Data Science for Football Professionals (November 2023)
From the boardroom to the touchline, data analytics are a growing area of importance within football and this course is designed for experts in the football industry with no prior experience, who would like to gain some understanding of this area. This six-week course is delivered by UEFA qualified football coaches and lead data analysts from the English Football League (EFL).
The course is taught by a UEFA coach and a data scientist with two main components: a taught element on the real-life application of data analytics in lower leagues clubs and an entry-level tutorial on football event data analysis using the programming language Python.
The course is different from any other football analytics course on the market as it is designed for people working in football who have no experience of data analytics and to fit into a busy schedule, with weekly pre-recorded short videos and light-touch interactive tutorials.
Course Leaders
Gian Marco Campagnolo is Senior Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh and leader in instructional design for online learning. He is also an UEFA qualified coach and match analyst with 15 years of experience.
Akhil Shah is Lead Data Scientist at Sunderland AFC.
The course is custom designed for a practitioner in the football industry at any level, with no prior experience with data, and who wants to learn how to combine analytics and football expertise.
Students will learn how to generate and apply new data insights into their everyday work on and off the pitch in combination with their existing football expertise.
This is an online course delivered over six weeks from Monday 6th November until Friday 15th December. Each week will entail watching a 30-minute pre-recorded video lecture on real-life application of football analytics at club level and completing a tutorial on football data using Python to identify tactical trends.
Each learning component will be introduced via a weekly live session delivered by the main tutor at a time agreed between participants - this allows for flexibility for those with busy schedules. The main tutor will also be available via live chat at set times during the week to answer queries related to the tutorial. Engagements around the video lecture content will be hosted on a dedicated discussion forum moderated by the main tutor.
Course fees for 23/24 are £500 but funded places are available for people employed or unemployed in Scotland (residency requirements apply).
Funding
Through the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) Upskilling Fund, a limited number of fully-funded places are available on Data Upskilling Short Courses at The University of Edinburgh.
Eligibility
Funded places are available to those who meet SFC fee waiver criteria:
“Courses/provision is open to all Scottish-domiciled/’home fee’ students, which is consistent with SFC’s policy for core funded student places. Students from the rest of the UK (rUK) are not normally considered eligible for SFC funding. If however a university is working with a Scottish/UK employer which has a physical presence or operating in Scotland, rUK employees of that employer would be eligible.”
If you are from outside Scotland, you need to have settled status in the UK and meet other residency criteria:
- be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the three years immediately before course start date, and
- have ‘settled status’ in the UK (as set out in the Immigration Act 1971) at the course start date, and
- be ordinarily resident in Scotland at the course start date.
You can find out more about residency criteria on the SAAS website or in this summary
Funding eligibility will be assessed at the point of each application for each course; you may be asked to provide further information if you do not meet the general residence conditions. You can check your likely fee status here. Please email us at upskilling@ed.ac.uk if you would like to discuss your funding eligibility before applying.
Please note that full-time students (including full-time PhD students) are not eligible for funding.
You will receive a certificate of completion
Applications for November 2023 are now closed.
