While fans across the globe were focused on Washington DC and the climactic Final Draw for the FIFA World Cup 2026™, football’s long-term future was taking shape in Zürich, Switzerland, where the second edition of the FIFA Technical Leadership Diploma concluded with a poignant graduation ceremony on Friday, 5 December 2025. At the Home of FIFA, 22 graduates hailing from 18 different nations, two confederations and FIFA itself were honoured for completing the rigorous 20-month course of study designed to educate and support football’s technical leaders. The second edition kicked off in Germany in April 2024. “My thoughts are with you, and no doubt you will be thinking that – at some stage in the future – you could be preparing to see one of your teams in a FIFA tournament draw,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino told the graduates in a video message. “This is the ultimate goal of the FIFA Technical Leadership Diploma: to give you the tools to build impactful technical projects that will take the game in your country to the next level.”

Launched in Brazil in 2023, the FIFA Technical Leadership Diploma was the first qualification of its kind and now represents the pinnacle of the robust FIFA Technical Leadership Education Pathway. The diploma covers five core domain areas: technical leadership, high performance, coach education, amateur football and management. “We believe that the FIFA Technical Leadership Diploma will help each participant to optimise the management of football in their country – both on and off the pitch,” Steven Martens, FIFA Director of Global Football Development, said when the second edition commenced in 2024. “The development of exceptional technical leaders will also assist us in delivering our long-term strategic aims of giving every talent a chance and growing the game at every level.”

Speaking to the graduates, Mr Infantino said, “At FIFA, we believe every country has world-class talent just waiting to be discovered and developed. But without world-class coaching, that talent will not reach its full potential.” After completing the course, the graduates will “create an even brighter future for the game, while the connections you have made form a global network of technical leaders, united by a shared passion for continuous learning and development,” the President continued.

This year’s graduates studied both online and onsite, exploring diverse football environments in Argentina, Germany and Trinidad and Tobago. Throughout, they engaged in intensive leadership development and exchanges that prepared them to craft and implement innovative technical programmes and solutions benefitting their nations and the game. “I am looking forward to what you will achieve in the future to keep strengthening the game’s foundations and ensuring football continues to grow, to inspire, and to unite communities in your own country and beyond,” Mr Infantino concluded.