Salary by UEFA licence: what a coach earns with UEFA C, B, A and Pro

Each UEFA licence sets a different competition ceiling, and that ceiling is what determines how much a coach can earn. Article 88 of the RFEF General Regulation (Circular No. 34, 2025/26 season) sets which licence is mandatory to act as head coach at each level; the actual pay, on the other hand, is negotiated club by club.

The figures on this page are coach salaries, not player salaries: two separate pay scales inside the same club, even at the same level.

The UEFA C is the entry licence: €175-400 depending on the regional federation that runs it. Article 88.4 of the Regulation authorises it for regional competitions "as set by the corresponding regional federation", which in practice means up to under-16 level in most regions, with a few federations also allowing regional under-19.

The pay it opens up is neither high nor consistent: in grassroots football it ranges from €0 at under-8 level to €60-220 at under-9 to under-12, rising to €150-400/month at under-13 to under-16, where many leagues already require a licence. Below that age band, UEFA C mostly helps you get a place at clubs that require a licensed coach; it does not guarantee better pay for holding it.

The amateur ceiling in grassroots football sits around €500/month, and reaching it takes youth-level coaching or academy coordination — two roles that already call for UEFA B.

The UEFA B costs €600-1,100 and authorises, under article 88.3 of the Regulation, the Liga Nacional Juvenil and the women's Tercera Federación; in practice clubs also ask for it to coach youth teams at strong academies and to coordinate the lower age groups.

At youth level, the range moves from €200-500/month to €700-1,000/month at clubs with strong academies that require a licensed coach, per the grassroots football figures. Coordinating the academy opens a second path, €400-800/month, with more teams under your responsibility and fewer hours on the pitch.

It is the first licence that turns grassroots coaching into a plannable income rather than a token stipend, though still far from a single salary that replaces a full-time job.

The UEFA A (€900-1,350) is the real dividing line. Article 88.2 of the Regulation makes it mandatory as head coach in Primera Federación, Segunda Federación, Tercera Federación, División de Honor Juvenil and the women's Primera and Segunda Federación: the entire non-professional national block runs through it.

Spain's national men's game below the two professional divisions is split into three federación tiers: Tercera Federación (fifth national level), Segunda Federación (fourth) and Primera Federación (third, one step below professional football). In Tercera Federación the typical range is €400-1,000/month, with a ceiling of €1,500 at bigger-budget clubs. Segunda Federación, the tier in between, has no reliable figure: no collective agreement and no published club budgets place it, so we do not invent one here. Primera Federación, a step below professional football, pays €2,000-5,000/month.

That jump from €400 to €5,000/month on the same licence is why UEFA A, of the four, changes working conditions the most: it moves a coach from amateur football into an environment with a real club budget and, in Primera Federación, a collective agreement that at least protects the playing squad.

The UEFA Pro (€8,000-12,000) authorises, under article 88.1 of the Regulation, Primera División, Segunda División and the women's Primera División: professional football. In Segunda División the range is €3,000-15,000/month, and in Primera División the figures no longer have a comparable ceiling.

The problem is not the course price, it is access. There are very few head-coach positions in professional football, most of them go to former players or to coaches with years of experience in Primera and Segunda Federación, and the RFEF, which runs the UEFA Pro exclusively, filters entry by track record, not only by tuition payment.

Holding the UEFA Pro does not guarantee a Segunda División job; it guarantees that, if the opportunity comes, the licence is not what stands in the way. That sets it apart from UEFA A, where the qualification opens the door to a higher salary tier directly.

The course price only makes sense against what it opens up. By that logic, UEFA A is the most profitable jump: it costs €900-1,350 and, in Tercera Federación (€400-1,000/month, up to €1,500), pays for itself in 1-3 months of salary.

UEFA C (€175-400) only pays back if the club pays something for the age group: at under-13 to under-16 level, on €150-400/month, the course recovers its cost in one or two months; at under-8 level, where the usual pay is €0, there is nothing to recover.

UEFA B (€600-1,100) pays back in 1-3 months if it opens the door to a strong-academy youth team (€700-1,000/month) or academy coordination (€400-800/month); if it only leads to a regular youth role (€200-500/month), payback takes longer.

UEFA Pro (€8,000-12,000) is the only one that does not depend on price: on a Segunda División salary (€3,000-15,000/month) it would pay back within a few months, but only if you land the job. The real payback depends on access, not on tuition.

How the money arrives changes as much as the amount. In grassroots football, with UEFA C, volunteering or a token stipend for travel and equipment dominates, with no withholding or registration; we cover this in how much a grassroots football coach earns.

In Tercera Federación, with UEFA A, the dominant model is self-employed status invoicing the club, with a monthly contribution of around €230-290; in Primera Federación the employment contract with social security registration gains ground, as covered in the salary ladder of Tercera, Segunda and Primera RFEF.

In professional football, with UEFA Pro, payroll is the norm: an employment contract with terms negotiated case by case. If you are weighing the federation route (UEFA licence) against the academic one (Técnico Deportivo), which lead to the same ceilings by different paths, the comparison is in Técnico Deportivo vs UEFA Licence; and if you want to compare course prices before enrolling, that is in football coaching course price in Spain.