Renewed funding for DCU and Premier League partnership

A coach development partnership between DCU School of Health and Human Performance, Research Ireland Insight Centre for Data Analytics and the Premier League has received €752,973 in further funding following a successful first phase of the project.

 The first of its kind partnership, which began in 2023, is designed to assist developing coaching practices across the Premier League’s academies. The project is led by Dr Stephen Behan, De Aine McNamara and Dr Jamie Taylor.

The first publication from the partnership came in 2024. It outlined a plan for the Premier League to drive the progress of research informed practice, in turn shaping a coach development agenda focused on developing adaptive and skilful coaches, rather than checking their expertise against prescribed competencies. Drawing the conclusion that there is a lack of empirical research designed to explore expertise and how it is realised in practice, the team identified evidence-informed criteria to identify skilful coaches.