This week in Lisbon, ECA is expanding its education and knowledge portfolio with the new Club Talent & Mentoring Programme (CTMP) aimed at young professionals working in European club football. 

The CTMP seeks to provide the opportunity for young club professionals at manager level or equivalent to expand their knowledge, develop key skills, grow their network as well as learn from the best in the business. It is intended to contribute to the development of aspiring leaders who may currently be working in different areas that impact a club’s management and its success. 

As the latest educational initiative of the recently introduced hub of excellence, ECA Campus, the CTMP is available to ECA Member Clubs and the ECA Network. It provides talented young professionals with the skills, know-how, and professional networking opportunities to prepare them for the complexities of an ever-changing football club environment, with the goal of advancing their careers.

“The CTMP is a blended learning programme that will allow the participants to immerse themselves in online modules and then enjoy a one week in-person module in Lisbon, Portugal from 5 to 9 December 2022. That period will then be followed by 12 months of one-to-one mentoring from senior executives from the world of club football to directly pass on their skills and experience,” said Sara Williams, ECA Knowledge and Education Manager.



The new CTMP will serve as a steppingstone to ECA’s flagship Club Management Programme (CMP), where individuals may further refine and deepen their strategic and operational knowledge as well as leadership skills in the context of modern club football.

The CTMP content is aligned with that of the CMP and is intended to provide the right foundations to allow those interested and qualified to progress on their learning journey towards the CMP in future years.

The first edition of the CTMP boasts more than 25 participants from clubs such as AC Milan, AFC Ajax, FK Bodø Glimt, Legia Warszawa SA, Rangers FC, Omonoia FC and Hertha BSC, and a strong line-up of speakers including Patricia Rodriguez (Programme Lead), Domingos Soares de Oliveira (SL Benfica), Omar Chaudhuri (Twenty First Group), Pal Orosz (Ferencvárosi TC), Bart Verhaeghe (Club Brugge KV), as well as various professors from the renowned NOVA School of Business & Economics. 

The CTMP is delivered with the assistance of The Football Business Academy (FBA) from Geneva, Switzerland and C-Sight from Hamburg, Germany.