5B039E - Leading Football Organisations: Systems and Processes 01 Sep 2026 - 31 Aug 2032 | Version 1

Associated Module Information

Module Code: 5B039E
Module Title: Leading Football Organisations: Systems and Processes
Faculty: Faculty of Life Sciences and Education
Faculty Group: Sport
Faculty Sub Group: Football Coaching
Module Leader: Ioan Paval
Module Team: Melanie Tuckwell, Dean Parsons, Jayne Ludlow, Jonathan Jones
First Intended Intake: SEP 2026 Final Year of Intake: 2031
Date Closed:
Credit Value: 30 Credit Level: 5
Language: English
Percentage of Module Taught in Welsh: 0
Equivalent Module:
HECOS codes: 100095 - sports coaching
HECOS Code Weighting: 100

Document Version Information

Version 1
Valid From 01 Sep 2026
Valid To 31 Aug 2032

Module Aims

The main aims of the module are: 

  • To develop understanding of organisational leadership and management systems within football contexts. 

  • To analyse how leadership principles are applied in influencing teams, stakeholders, and organisational culture. 

  • To enable students to apply leadership strategies and processes to authentic football challenges. 

Content Summary

This module focuses on how football organisations work including the systems, processes, structures, and workflows that leaders must manage to keep clubs and programmes functioning effectively. Building on your Level 4 foundations, you’ll move beyond self-leadership and examine how leadership operates within the operational frameworks of clubs, governing bodies, and community organisations. 

You’ll explore leadership as a systemic process, analysing how information flows, how decisions are made, and how structures, roles, and procedures shape performance. You’ll get immersed into communication systems, organisational culture, team dynamics, and the operational processes that support recruitment, player pathways, performance programmes, and day-to-day delivery. 

Through challenge-based projects and applied case studies, you will learn how to design, manage, and optimise organisational systems: coordinating people, aligning processes, and implementing structures that drive both efficiency and performance. 

By the end of the module, you’ll be equipped not just to lead people, but to lead systems: navigating complexity, improving processes, and shaping organisations that run smoothly and deliver consistent impact in football environments. 

Learning and Teaching Methods

Activity Type Hours
Seminars 23
Groupwork 28
Guided Study 137
Problem/Challenge based learning 35
Practical Classes and Workshops 21
Formative Assessment 15
Summative Assessment 41
Total Hours Selected 300

Learning Outcomes

# Learning Outcome
LO1 Critically analyse leadership and management systems within football organisations and explain their impact on performance and culture.
LO2 Apply leadership processes and communication strategies to effectively manage people, systems, and operations in football contexts.

Module Requisites

N/A

Assessment Criteria

Assessment Category Assessment Type Description Duration Word Count Weight (%) Best of? Pass Mark
Asynchronous Assessment Report 1 The Organisational Audit Report enables students to demonstrate applied leadership and management competence by analysing a real or simulated football organisation. Through a structured leadership and skills audit, learners evaluate existing systems, processes, and interpersonal dynamics, identifying strengths and development areas. They then propose evidence-informed strategies to enhance organisational performance and culture. 0 4700 100 No 40

Assessment Matrix

Assessment Type Learning Outcomes
LO1 LO2
Report 1

Reading List

Essential: 

Cummins, Paul, Ian O’Boyle, and Tony Cassidy. Leadership in Sports Coaching: A Social Identity Approach. 1st ed. London: Routledge, 2018.  

 

Passmore, Jonathan. Leadership Coaching?: Working with Leaders to Develop Elite Performance. 2nd edition. London?; Kogan Page, 2015.  

 

Ward, J. (2017) Leadership and change in public sector organizations : beyond reformLondon: Routledge 

Cengiz, Mehtap. Corporate Social Responsibility in Football Associations?: UEFA, DFB and the Regional Level in Germany. 1st ed. 2026. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden, 2026.  

 

Chadwick, Simon et al., eds. Routledge Handbook of Football Business and Management. Abingdon, Oxon?; Routledge, 2019.  

 

 

Supplementary: 

International Journal of Sport Science and Coaching - https://journals.sagepub.com/home/spo . 

Journal of Sport Management - https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/jsm/jsm-overview.xml . 

Sport Management Review - https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rsmr20 . 

Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal - https://www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/journal/sbm .