Soccer Coach Resume Example & Writing Guide

A championship soccer coach resume sets you up your job hunt so you can achieve your next goal: a great new coaching position. A resume, like a player’s tryout, must show off your best right from the start or athletic directors will be looking toward the next candidate.

How do you kick-start your search for a new team? Take your strategy from the experts. With Resume.io's 300+ occupation-specific resume examples and writing guides, you will be well on your way to a soccer coach resume that wins you an interview.

This resume guide, along with the corresponding soccer coach resume example, will cover the following topics:

• What does a soccer coach do?
• How to write a soccer coach resume (tips and tricks)
• The best format for a soccer coach resume
• Advice on each section of your resume (summary, work history, education, skills)
• Professional resume layout and design hints.

What does a soccer coach do?

A soccer coach is an inspirational team leader. A teacher, coach, mentor and cheerleader all in one. Soccer coaches are also experts at their game, have an understanding of fitness, conditioning and nutrition and their players’ general well-being.They aim to continually promote sportsmanship and work to help athletes realize their full athletic potential.

Soccer coaches can work for schools, athletic facilities, or public or private organizations. They work to lead players by exhibiting a good work ethic, perseverance, and sportsmanship. Soccer coaches nurture their players’ abilities and cultivate new skills. They plan practices, drills, practice games, contests, and real games. They keep their eyes on the team goals, but also work to meet individual player’s needs. 

How to write a soccer coach resume

Your soccer coach resume will have the same format as most other resumes. Before you start writing, you should know what those are. Your CV needs the following elements: 

• The resume summary (aka profile or personal statement)
• The employment history section
• The resume skills section
• The education section

Each team is different, therefore you need to make sure your resume reflects that. Do some research into the team’s goals, makeup and achievements. Then, develop a message that goes along with it. 

Depending on the level of soccer coaching you aspire to, you may have to change the tone of your resume as well. Younger athletes or casual leagues may be less competitive and more focused on having a good time.

Choosing the best resume format for a soccer coach

We advise that most resume writers use, the standard reverse chronological order resume format. That goes for your soccer coach resume, too. This format mostly affects your employment history section, where you will begin with your most recent position and work your way backward. 

However, if you coach several different sports throughout the year or have become a soccer coach after a different career path, you may consider the other resume formats we suggest as chronological alternatives or hybrids. These alternatives are also useful if you are just entering the job market or are a mature job seeker.

We highly recommend that you go with the reverse chronological order resume format because it is favored by both recruiters and the ATS.

Resume profile example: personal angle

Your soccer coach resume profile gives hiring managers an idea of who you are, your style and philosophy of game play and mentoring. That’s what makes this section so important. This 3-4 lines sits at the top of your document. While recruiters may scan down to your skills section or to see what you are doing now, if they like what they see, you can bet they will read your profile carefully.

Start off strong with an introduction to your career and yourself. Then, wow them with your greatest career achievement, whether it be a championship, an athlete who went on to a higher level or a player who you inspired to love the game.

Add a sentence that illuminates your coaching philosophy or explains why you love the game if you have the space.

You can find a soccer coach resume example profile below.

Employment history CV sample: tackle your career

A superior soccer coach CV uses the employment history section to detail the trajectory of your career successes. Elevate this section by thinking in terms of achievement, not responsibilities.

Stick to bullet items and start each one off with strong action words. You kicked off your career, you didn’t begin it. Use the STAR method to guide you in writing each item: describe the situation, tell what you were tasked with, explain the action you took and the results you achieved. Our resume examples give you some more guidance on this method.

You can find a soccer coach employment history resume sample below.

Soccer coach skills section example: breakaway talent

At the top of this guide, we mentioned that athletic directors may scan this section first. Why? Because if you don’t have the skills they seek, there’s no reason to look further. So, how do you choose your best? Here are some tips:

• Review the job listing and match your skills to the ones within it. This will also help you beat the ATS.
• Choose higher level skills over basic skills.
• Balance the list between hard skills such as soccer analytics and soft skills such as mentoring techniques.

When you have compiled your list, look at the big picture to make sure you have offered a well-rounded view of your coaching attributes.

You can find a skills resume sample below.

Soccer coach resume education example

While there are no standard requirements for a soccer coach’s education, many public school coaches are also teachers or have a degree in a field related to fitness or health. The education section of your soccer coach resume is a listing of your academic degrees. USA Soccer offers a licensing program for coaches as well. All licenses and certifications as well as degrees may be listed here.

Soccer coaches may also be judged based on the number of championships they have brought their teams to. If you have many and you have space in this document, you can create a separate section to highlight them. 

See the resume example content below for a formatting idea. 

Resume layout and design: a well-groomed pitch

The look of the pitch makes an impression and so does the look of your resume. Your goal is to get the athletic director to read all about your accomplishments, but to do that you first have to look good on paper — literally. You want to present a polished, energetic image. How do you do that?

Use these pointers as a guide.

• Try choosing a sans serif type such as Arial or Calibri for display text and a serif type such as Garamond or Constantia for your descriptions. Or try the opposite.
• Proofread carefully to avoid an spelling, grammatical, or punctuation errors or choose an online resume builder such as ours that includes a spellcheck function
• Create white space by varying your line lengths
• If you spill over to a second page, try not to break up sections
• Consider using a field-tested resume template to simplify the design process.

Key takeaways for a soccer coach resume

• Soccer coaches have the opportunity to work with any age group or skill level.
• Researching the goals of the program and its sports philosophy will help you create a targeted job application.
• Choose a blend of  high level abilities to differentiate yourself in your skills section.
• Check out our adaptable soccer coach resume sample for more ideas on creating a great page layout.