UEFA Pro Licence Head Coach

FRAN ALONSO

Fifteen years in professional football across four countries. I build teams that compete above their budget.

Celtic Women  ·  Houston Dash  ·  Dépor Abanca  ·  Southampton  ·  Everton
Who I am

A method that has travelled to four countries

I have coached in the English Premier League under Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman, won five trophies as a head coach, taken a club into the Champions League for the first time in its history, managed in the NWSL, and kept a newly promoted side in Liga F.

What I do is narrower than that list suggests. I build teams that compete above their budget. I have never had the most expensive squad on the pitch, in any of the four countries I have worked in, and the method has travelled with me every time. Three of my trophies were the first of their kind in the club's history.

The order matters and it is always the same: culture first, then the model of play. Players do not run for a system. They run for each other, and for a set of standards they believe in.
Fran Alonso
Career record

The numbers I am judged on

80.7%
113 wins in 140 matches at Celtic FC Women
5
Trophies won as head coach, at three different clubs
2
UEFA Women's Champions League campaigns — both club firsts
0.46 → 1.24
Points per game at Dépor Abanca, with the squad I inherited
The playing model

Dynamic Positional Dominance

Eight sub-phases and two transitions. Each one has its own principles, its own triggers and its own training design. Possession-based, high intensity, and written so that a player can say it back in their own words rather than recite it.

Out of possession
  • High pressing
  • Medium block
  • Low block
  • Defending the box
In possession
  • Build-up
  • Creation
  • Finishing
  • Attacking the box
Transitions
  • The moment we win the ball
  • The moment we lose it
Do not build a model your players can follow. Build one they can say.
In my own words

Sessions and analysis

Extracts from a session delivered to coaches in August 2026, covering how the model is built and how it is installed week to week.

The six triggers

The six triggers

What fires the collective jump
The proof I trust most

The proof I trust most

0.46 to 1.24 points per game, same squad
What I got wrong

What I got wrong

Four lessons that changed how I install a model
Career

Where the work has been done

Nov 2024 – Jun 2026Liga F, Spain

Head Coach

Dépor Abanca · RC Deportivo de La Coruña

Appointed on matchday 14 with the club second from bottom and inside the relegation zone. Survival secured in 2024–25 at a rate of 1.24 points per game, and again in 2025–26 with six matches still to play — a third consecutive season in the top flight, the first in the club's history.

Dec 2023 – Oct 2024NWSL, United States

Head Coach

Houston Dash

Led a professional team in the most physically demanding league in the world, introducing new tactical frameworks within a compressed pre-season.

Jan 2020 – Dec 2023Scottish Women's Premier League

Head Coach

Celtic FC Women

113 wins in 140 matches. Four years of cup football without a single defeat. Scottish Women's Cup in 2022 and 2023, back to back and the first in the club's history, and the SWPL Cup in 2021. Took the club into the Champions League for the first and second time.

Dec 2018 – Dec 2019FA Women's Championship, England

First Team Manager

Lewes FC Women

Championship survival in a debut season. Designed the playing style, the training methodology and the non-playing staff structure.

2016 – 2018FA Women's National League

First Team Manager

Liverpool Feds

Won the County FA Women's Cup, the first trophy in the club's history, while working full time as an assistant coach in the Premier League at Everton.

Aug 2016 – Jul 2018Men's Premier League, England

Assistant Coach

Everton FC

Worked under Ronald Koeman and Sam Allardyce. Tactical preparation, training methodology and match analysis at elite level.

Dec 2014 – 2017Sixth tier to fourth tier, England

Head Coach, then Technical Director

Southampton Women's FC

Arrived with the side bottom of the sixth tier. Survival, promotion, promotion. Hampshire League champions in 2015–16, and a league and cup double in 2016–17 as Technical Director.

2012 – 2016Men's Premier League, England

First Team Technical Coach

Southampton FC

Technical coach under Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman. Club-record points in consecutive seasons: 60 points and seventh in 2014–15 with Europa League qualification, 55 points and eighth in 2013–14.

Honours

Trophies

  • Scottish Women's Cup — 2022, 2023 · Celtic FC Women, back to back and the club's first
  • SWPL Cup — 2021 · Celtic FC Women
  • UWCL qualification — 2020–21, 2022–23 · both club firsts
  • County FA Women's Cup — 2018 · Liverpool Feds' first trophy
  • Hampshire League — 2015–16 · Southampton Women
  • League and cup double — 2016–17 · Southampton Women, as Technical Director
Credentials

Licences and languages

  • UEFA Pro Licence · the highest European coaching qualification
  • UEFA A and UEFA B Licences
  • Diploma in Football Management · University of Liverpool
  • Spanish and English · bilingual
  • Spanish / EU passport, UK permanent resident · no sponsorship required in the United Kingdom, Spain or the European Union
  • United States · previously authorised with Houston Dash
Contact

Open to Head Coach and Technical Director roles in elite football.

Representation
TMJ
Email
fran.alonso11@gmail.com
LinkedIn
linkedin.com/in/franalonsoFA

A full coaching dossier — game model, phase-by-phase principles and performance record — is available on request. References on request.