Diploma in Technical Management of Football Clubs reaches halfway point
The course, which is held at Ipurua, is being staged for a second consecutive year and is run by the SD Eibar Foundation and the University of the Basque Country
This weekend saw the second edition of the Diploma in Technical Management of Football Clubs, a course which is organised by the SD Eibar Foundation and the University of the Basque Country, reach its halfway point, with the teaching of four of the course's eight modules having now been completed.
Module 4, which focused on Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy, saw esteemed professionals from within the world of sports medicine and physiotherapy share their knowledge with students. Amongst those who delivered talks were the head of SD Eibar's medical department, Dr Alberto Fernández Morán; his counterpart at Real Sociedad, José Manuel González de Suso; the former physiotherapist of the Spanish men's handball team and the women's grass hockey side, Maialen Araolaza; and university professors from the Faculties of Medicine and Nursing and Sport respectively, Susana Gil and Iñaki Arratibel.
This latest module was sponsored by BH, a company founded in Eibar at the start of the last century by the Beistegui brothers and whose activity has involved the manufacturing of bicycles and gym machines since 1923.
For a second successive year, the diploma is being run in its entirety within the Training Centre at Ipurua, a situation which makes Eibar unique amongst La Liga clubs in the sense that no other club runs university courses within their stadiums.
Twenty-five students are enrolled on the course, which involves a module per month, with classes taking place across Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. To date, the following modules have been taught: Training Sessions and Fitness Training (1); Football Management, Rehabilitation and Youth Football (2); Match Analysis, Scouting (3); Sports Medicine and Physiotherapy (4).
Over the course of the next few months, the students will study the following remaining modules: Sports Nutrition (5); Coaching, Psychology, Business Management (6); Management, Finance, Marketing and Communications (7); and Sports Law (8).
Throughout the course, we have received visits from well-known professionals, not just from the University of the Basque Country and SD Eibar, but also from other football clubs and elite sporting organisations. Speakers include those of the rank of José Luis Mendilibar and Fran Garagarza, as well as Luki Iriarte (head of the academy at Real Sociedad), Juan Luis Fuentes (coordinator of women's football at Athletic Club), Óscar Caro (fitness coach of the Spanish football team) and Bárbara Sánchez (nutritionist at Atlético Madrid Women).