UEFA pointed out the turnover of coaching staff

The European Union of Football Associations (UEFA) has produced a report, European Club Talent and Competition Landscape, which outlines important aspects of the development of club football on the continent. Excerpts from the document were made available to a number of foreign media. The most noteworthy point is the fact that the turnover of coaching staff has increased significantly in European football. On average, in the top divisions of European championships, head coaches stay in their positions for no more than 16 months.

The full version of the report “European Club Talent and Competition Landscape” prepared by UEFA, describing the state of affairs in European football, has not yet been published, but excerpts cited, for example, by the BBC, are quite interesting. The British resource drew attention to the fact that, according to UEFA calculations, the turnover of coaching staff has noticeably increased in Europe. A total of 735 head coaches of teams in Europe’s 48 top divisions were fired last season. This figure was higher only in the season that opened in the summer of 2020, when 763 coaches faced dismissal.

On average, coaches managed to work in their positions for only 1.31 years (about 16 months) before being fired during the previous season. This figure was slightly lower only in 2018, when the average length of a coach’s tenure was 1.3 years. There were six championships in which coaches stayed in one place for an average of two years or more. And these are not top tournaments, but such as the championships of Wales or Northern Ireland.

As for the strongest leagues, the main one, the English Premier League (EPL), has the highest rate of coach changes during the championship among all the “Big Five” championships (in addition to English, it includes the championships of Spain, Italy, Germany and France). . Of the 20 Premier League clubs, 11 – 55% – changed their coach at least once during the season. And Chelsea and Leeds each tried four managers (such frequent changes were costly for the Londoners; according to the Daily Mail, the sackings of Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter alone cost a total of more than £51 million). A total of 41 mentors worked in 20 league clubs during the season. In total, 15 coaches were fired (including acting ones – 22), and this is the highest figure in the entire history of the Premier League.

In France and Spain, the “dismissal” rates for coaches are close to those in England. In both countries, 50% of top division clubs changed coaches. In Germany the figure is lower – 44%. The most stable situation with coaching staff is in Italy. Only 35% of teams fired coaches during the season.

Note that the Russian Premier League (RPL) does not lag behind the leaders when it comes to dismissing coaches. Over the past season, 23 specialists who coached league clubs lost their jobs. At the same time, there are not 20 clubs in the RPL, as in the same Premier League, but only 16. In the case of the Russian league, the most significant contribution to the statistics was made by Khimki, with whom four mentors managed to work, as well as Torpedo, which attracted three specialists.

Alexander Petrov