APFC The Backline

Who Is This Course For?

  • Professional Coaches
  • Youth Academy Coaches
  • Academy Managers
  • Heads of Methodology
  • Coaches of Player Development

Why Choose this Course?

In this course, you’ll learn every movement, key element, phase of play, intention, and fundamental principle of the backline. With a level of depth and expertise you won’t find anywhere else, we break down every single detail of defensive behaviors to give you a rich tactical understanding and a practical approach you can implement directly with your team.

Whether you coach youth, semi-professional, or professional players, this course will show you how to structure, organize, and communicate with your defenders so they perform consistently under pressure. You’ll discover advanced positioning strategies, timing for pressing triggers, coordination across lines, and how to turn defensive solidity into attacking opportunities.

Unlock the secrets of the backline and guide your defenders to the next level of performance, helping your team dominate games, minimize mistakes, and gain a competitive edge. By the end of this course, you’ll have the tools to train smarter, coach smarter, and see measurable improvements on the field.

📈 Don’t just teach defending—master it, implement it, and transform your team.

Course Curriculum

  • Chapter 1: Phases and moments of the game(23:30)
  • Chapter 2: Defensive Intentions(10:44)
  • Chapter 3: Key Elements(9:39)
  • Chapter 4: Individual defensive foundations(21:16)
  • Chapter 5: The movements of the backline(21:02)
  • Chapter 6: The balance of the backline(46:13)
  • Chapter 7: The backline vs the direct attack(25:40)
  • Chapter 8: From the field to the training and backline positional game(1:00:00)

What you’ll Learn:

  • Every movement, phase of play, and fundamental principle of the backline, broken down in detail.
  • How to structure, organize, and communicate effectively with your defenders for consistent performance under pressure.
  • Advanced positioning strategies to maintain defensive solidity and control the game.
  • Techniques to ensure coordination across the backline, minimizing gaps and errors.
  • How to turn defensive stability into attacking opportunities, transitioning smoothly from defense to offense.
  • Practical methods to train smarter and coach smarter, applicable at youth, semi-professional, or professional levels.
  • Tools and exercises that help your defenders perform at their best, giving your team a measurable competitive edge.

TESTIMONIALS

"APFC offers elite content for coaches on Positional Play and game understanding. Highly recommended courses and content for all levels."

Lluis Cortés

Former FC Barcelona Women’s Coach and Saudi Arabia women’s National Team

“APFC has a huge capacity and a big experience with the formation and development of football players.”

Carles Planchart

Manchester City First Team Performance Analysis Coach

“The content in the APFC Next course is valuable for any coach looking to elevate their understanding on how to build a game model and how positional play is effectively used.”

Fabrice Gautrat

Head Coach of Houston Dash NWSL

“Each APFC course offers insightful content for coaches for all levels looking to grow their knowledge of positional playing style and improve their team’s overall performance.” “Through their detailed modules which include videos, diagrams and interviews, coaches will gain valuable understanding to ensure long term development.”

Emma Thomson

Assistant Coach NC Courage NWSL

“APFC delivers individual player concepts and team development principles in a simplified, logical, and highly effective way. Their courses are easy to follow yet rich in knowledge, insight, and clarity. APFC has significantly improved my understanding of what to coach and how to deliver the methodology for real success in both player and team development.”

Kenneth Thompson

KTECH Head Coach & Bermuda National Team

“I learned a lot about Positional Play from the fundamentals to the different concepts. I take courses from APFC and they are pioneers in how they teach the topic. Highly recommended.”

Yosi Raz

Head Coach of UC Irvine Men’s Soccer Program

“The coaches asked to bring APFC for the second time to present the hosted coaching course. It was a helpful and well received course.”

Ryan Rich

National Capital Soccer League Executive Director

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