Liverpool trio have taken next step towards coaching career with UEFA B Licence

Liverpool’s Diogo Jota, Adrian and the departing Joel Matip have all taken the next step towards a career in coaching, obtaining their UEFA B Licence.

With the playing career of a top-level Footballer a short one, plans after retirement are often on the minds of many professionals.

For some, that will lead them towards coaching, with new head coach Arne Slot a prime example having first represented PEC Zwolle, NAC Breda and Sparta Rotterdam as a player.

That is the case for Jota, Adrian and Matip, who are working towards gaining their coaching badges through UEFA.

On Wednesday, the PFA announced that the trio had all secured their UEFA B Licence, which is the third-highest level of coaching qualifications.

The PFA have been supporting three @LFC players on their coaching journey, recently completing the @UEFA B Licence. ?

Congratulations @AdriSanMiguel, Joel Matip and @DiogoJota18 ? pic.twitter.com/YGwAmUycTR

— Professional Footballers’ Association (@PFA) June 5, 2024

Jota and Matip have been working towards their badges for at least a year, having held sessions coaching players from The Robbie Fowler Academy at the AXA Training Centre last June.

Fabinho was also part of that group, with Jota and Adrian then pictured working with the Steven Gerrard Academy in November.

James McConnell, goalkeeper Reece Trueman and striker Iwan Roberts, who has since departed the club, all earned their UEFA B Licence in 2023.

This is no indication that any of these players are planning to move into coaching imminently, of course, though Adrian‘s qualification could be particularly interesting.

The Spaniard has been offered a new one-year contract by Liverpool this summer, and with the goalkeeping staff set for a major change following the exit of John Achterberg and Jack Robinson, it could be that he has been factored in.

Meanwhile, Jurgen Klopp hinted that Joel Matip could consider retirement upon the expiry of his deal at Anfield, though that is as yet unconfirmed.

Jota would be viewed as the furthest of the senior trio from starting life as a coach, and the Portuguese has already expressed doubt over becoming a manager.

“At this stage I feel I will never be a first-team [manager],” he said last year.

“I could be an assistant, for example, but you never know so if I have this opportunity [to do the qualification] I think I will learn something while I am doing it, and in the end I get the UEFA B badge and then I can go from there.”