Does our club have to have a player development plan?

No. It is not required by law, by the Swedish FA or for any grant. It is a criterion for Kvalitetsklubb. Criminal record extracts and the values in RF’s statutes apply whether you have a plan or not.

Is there a template for a player development plan?

Yes. The Swedish FA has a Word template, a guide and a PowerPoint process support under Kvalitetsklubb – Våra Spelare (Our Players). All of it is free. The figures per game format in the template are the FA’s suggestions, which you may adjust.

What is the difference between the player development plan and the operating plan?

The operating plan is adopted by the annual general meeting every year. The player development plan’s guidelines apply over time, while what the club works towards is revised every year. The Swedish FA advises you to make the work on the player development plan part of the operating plan.

For clubs

A player development plan is only worth something once the teams follow it

By Gustav, founder of Breakout · 6 min read

A player development plan describes how your club’s teams train and play, from 3v3 to 11v11. It is not required by law, by the Swedish FA or for any grant, but it is a criterion for Kvalitetsklubb, the FA’s club development programme. The FA’s template and process support are free. The hard part comes afterwards: in the FA’s 2020 survey, 77 per cent of clubs had a plan, but only 19 per cent of clubs said it was followed in the teams.

The FA’s plan and your plan are two different documents

Svensk fotbolls spelarutbildningsplan, the national player development plan, belongs to the FA. It covers ages 6–19, builds on Fotbollens spela, lek och lär (FSLL), the FA’s framework for children’s and youth football, and is now available as a digital book. Your plan is your own document. The process support says so plainly: “the FA’s player development plan can be used in full or adjusted”.

Your plan has four parts: guidelines, how the teams train and play in each game format, implementation and evaluation. The process support has schedules for producing the first two over one weekend or four evenings.

The FA’s guide advises you to set up a gender-balanced working group that includes a board member, to use all youth coaches as a reference group, and to get help from RF-SISU and your regional FA.

The guidelines stay fixed – the teams fill them with content

The foundation is FSLL’s five guidelines: Football for all, Children’s and young people’s conditions, Focus on enjoyment, effort and learning, Sustainable sport, and Fair Play. According to the template the guidelines are “lasting over time”, while what the club works towards is revised every year. Each team agrees every year on what the guidelines mean for that team.

The plan must also hold up against the Swedish Sports Confederation’s (RF) guidelines for children’s and youth sport. According to RF, elite-oriented activity belongs from age 13 at the earliest, but 13 is not a point at which you have to split into grassroots and elite. The FA’s 2021 article on stacking teams to win puts it this way: “In children’s football up to the age of 12, I don’t see any reason for it.” That is a recommendation, not a rule.

The figures per game format are the FA’s suggestions, not requirements

The template has a page per game format with the FA’s suggestions for sessions, session length, matches and coach-to-player ratio. You may adjust them. The formats themselves are covered in the guide to football training by age. The FA’s suggestions:

3v3 (ages 6–7): 1 session of 60 minutes a week, 2–5 festivals or tournaments a year, 1 coach per 6 players.
5v5 (ages 8–9): 1–2 sessions of 60–75 minutes a week, 2–6 festivals or tournaments a year, 1 coach per 8 players.
7v7 (ages 10–12): 1–3 sessions of 60–90 minutes and at most 1.5 matches a week on average over the season, 1 coach per 10 players.
9v9 (ages 13–14): 1–4 sessions of 60–90 minutes and at most 1.5 matches a week on average, 1 coach per 10 players.
11v11 (ages 15–19): 1–7 sessions of 60–90 minutes and at most 1.5 matches a week on average, 1 coach per 10 players.

Skills, coach education and playing time need a second look

The template lists skills that are “prioritised in training” in each game format. That is a priority for coaches, not a list of what a player should be able to do at a given age.

The template and the process support give a level of coach education per game format, but the two differ. Check against the FA’s current coaching courses.

On playing time, the 2023 template and the FA’s 2025 game format sheets differ for 5v5 and 9v9, and the game format sheets are the newer of the two. Read the guide to playing time before you write in your own figures.

Safeguarding belongs in the plan

The template has a page for Trygg fotboll, the FA’s safeguarding work, with the club’s safeguarding contact, a flowchart for concerns about a child, and the number of the sports ombudsman (Idrottsombudsmannen), 08-627 40 10.

The FA’s safeguarding policy for children’s and youth football was adopted in December 2025 and launched in March 2026. Under the policy every club should have a safeguarding lead and a local safeguarding plan. Everyone aged 15 or over with direct or regular contact with children must show a criminal record extract before taking on the role. The policy also covers the two-adult principle and an annual refresher for coaches.

Swedish sport has required criminal record extracts since 2020. From 2026 the extract shows more offences, can in some cases include the register of suspected offences, and is valid for at most six months instead of twelve. RF recommends that it is shown every year, and the club must not keep it. Images of children are covered in the guide to photos of children at your club.

The plan lives through the football developer, not the PDF

The FA’s advice: make the work on the plan part of the club’s annual operating plan. Appoint football developers (fotbollsutvecklare) to help the teams’ coaches put it into practice. Take extra care when new teams and new coaches start. Put the plan on the website and in the clubhouse. Follow up with Klubbkollen, where members give feedback, and revise as needed.

The football developer is the coaches’ coach. They evaluate how the plan is applied, visit training sessions and matches, hold one-to-one talks and meetings with coaches, and guide coaches through their education. The process support describes the role as “a support for the coaches rather than an inspector of the coaches”.

Two club examples, not norms. Bälinge IF’s 2025 plan builds on the template but has changed playing time and tightened the ratio to one coach per six players in 5v5. Östersunds FK’s 2023 plan runs to 112 pages and speaks of a “living player development plan”.

In Breakout, your club’s coaches can build session plans from an exercise bank and link them to the team calendar, and the club can send announcements to its teams.

Kvalitetsklubb requires a plan – no grant does

Kvalitetsklubb (Quality Club) is the FA’s club development programme. It was launched in April 2023 and replaced the earlier Diplomerad förening scheme. Its tools Klubbkollen, Klubbguiden and Klubbverktyget are free, and you log in to Klubbverktyget with the Freja+ e-ID. Certification is valid for two years, and how much support your regional FA and RF-SISU give varies.

No grant requires a player development plan. The project grant IF Barn- och ungdomsidrott 2026–2027 for children’s and youth sport requires membership of a national sports federation and that the club follows the values in RF’s statutes; in football the regional FAs distribute it. Svensk Elitfotboll’s academy certification, with ten areas and up to seven stars, applies to the elite clubs.

To be certified, the club must have a written player development plan that:

bases its guidelines on Fotbollens spela, lek och lär
describes how the teams train and play in the different game formats
sets out the expected number of coaches and their level of education per game format
is applied in the club’s activities
is evaluated regularly and updated when needed

Common follow-up questions

Does our club have to have a player development plan?: No. It is not required by law, by the Swedish FA or for any grant. It is a criterion for Kvalitetsklubb. Criminal record extracts and the values in RF’s statutes apply whether you have a plan or not.
Is there a template for a player development plan?: Yes. The Swedish FA has a Word template, a guide and a PowerPoint process support under Kvalitetsklubb – Våra Spelare (Our Players). All of it is free. The figures per game format in the template are the FA’s suggestions, which you may adjust.
What is the difference between the player development plan and the operating plan?: The operating plan is adopted by the annual general meeting every year. The player development plan’s guidelines apply over time, while what the club works towards is revised every year. The Swedish FA advises you to make the work on the player development plan part of the operating plan.