CBF license packs dreams of those who have not played football and dream of being a coach

The workdays of Edivan Coelho, 30, start early and end late. A teacher at gyms and personal trainer in Baixada Santista, he saves money to fulfill the dream that has dominated him since he heard football on his neighbor’s radio, at the age of six, in Registro, in the interior of São Paulo: to be a football coach.

“I’ve already spent around R$20,000 on licensing. I save all the money I can for the courses. With the pandemic, part of the content has become online. teresópolis [no Rio, onde acontecem as aulas presenciais], accommodation and food. It’s difficult,” he notes.

Created in 2016, the CBF Academy is the educational arm of the CBF (Brazilian Football Confederation) and is responsible for training professionals. It has already issued 4,265 licenses, from C, the simplest and aimed at those who teach in schools, to Pro, which makes it possible to participate in Commebol (South American Football Confederation) competitions.

The Pro license is Edivan’s next goal. Because it is the highest graduation, it has the most salty value. It’s R$ 19.9 thousand. To obtain the A license last year, he paid R$10,500 for the content alone. He had already done the B. It cost R$ 7.7 thousand.

“I’ll only be able to do the Pro when I get a job in a club with a salary that allows me to pay the monthly fees. Otherwise, it’s not possible”, he says.

It is the same observation made by coaches at the beginning of their careers or established in the main divisions of Brazilian football. Those on the big teams have no problem paying for classes. But, for those who don’t have many contacts, are outside the big clubs or work in the basic categories of the interior, it’s much more complicated.

“It’s expensive. I’m going to my sixth Serie A of the Brazilian Championship. For me, there is no problem. The courses are not accessible to everyone. People from Serie C or Serie D, for example, have difficulty”, says Jair Ventura, current Youth coach and with passages through Botafogo, Santos, Corinthians, Sport and Chapecoense.

“It’s elite. I hope a solution is found to change that”, agrees Daniel Paulista, coach of Guarani.

CBF Academy is aware of the price issue, but it is a crossroads. There is the cost involved in running the courses, which are not just for trainers. The entity is one of those responsible for popularizing the position of performance analyst. Ventura says that the level of content offered in the classes leaves nothing to be desired in relation to that of UEFA, a world reference.

“This is a sensitive topic. We know the origin of our audience and the conditions. It’s eclectic. We know it’s a challenge. But, at the other end, there’s the cost structure. You have an equation that needs to stand up We have products that start at a price of R$ 500. There is also a policy of varied discounts and a specific strategy to include women”, explains Michel Mattar, general coordinator of the CBF Academy.

The technicians heard by leaf, at the beginning of their careers or not, agree that the CBF Academy licensing changed the horizon of the profession in the country. It opened the real possibility for people like Edivan, without a past or godparents, to enter football, and gave a direction to those who were already in the market.

“These are courses that shed some light to be followed because, until then, nothing existed. It adds a lot and provokes an exchange of ideas”, adds Daniel Paulista.

“They help and present quality content, but it’s not a course for training coaches as many people think. It’s a tool and it’s important. But training takes decades. The process is continuous. So much so that licensing [da CBF Academy] needs to be renewed every two years”, recalls Leandro Zago, 40, hired to command Botafogo in the Paulista A1 Series.

The CBF Academy believes that the training of technicians is a global movement that Brazil started to take part in in 2016. The licenses issued by the entity do not enable professionals to work in Europe. The stated hope is that this will change in the future.

The concern, since the beginning of the pandemic, is to invest in online platforms, which can lower costs for those enrolled. There would be no travel and accommodation expenses. To save money on the process to obtain the A license, Edivan Coelho shared a room in Teresópolis with other people.

“In 2022, we want to have more than 60 classes in different courses. The digital world has allowed us to include people who were not able to participate until then. We have students in Japan, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The logistical cost for the student to be in a place [físico] costs as much as the course fee or more. In the digital world, where everything is focused on content, on intelligence, this has become a lot cheaper”, observes Mattar.

That’s what Edivan Coelho believes. To be someone important as a technician, he bets on training, knowledge and his licenses.

The son of a cleaning mother and a doorman father, he had the help of scholarships to graduate in physical education in Santos. Course he chose because he saw it as an entrance to football. He did internships at São Vicente AC and EC São Bernardo, commanded Amparo’s professional team at the age of 25 and directed Linense in the 2020 Copa São Paulo. Now he has to look for another opportunity.

“I had offers to work, but the salary was very, very small. I couldn’t support myself”, he recalls.

It is a battle that he also fights against a memory. He doesn’t like to give details, but says that when he started looking for work on football teams, a few years ago, he sought help from another coach. The first thing the colleague did was look at Edivan’s skin color.

“He asked me how many black coaches there were in the Brazilian Serie A.”

The rookie replied that, at the time, he didn’t remember any.

“Your color won’t let you come,” was the prediction he heard.

“I got home, went to shower and cried like hell. And I decided that wouldn’t happen. I’m going to be one of the great coaches of Brazilian football”, promised Edivan Coelho to himself.