Many people have to navigate language barriers in their jobs - football is no exception. In the ultra competitive world of professional football, where the margins are razor thin, effective communication can make a huge difference for players and coaches.
Oscar Facundo is a football language coach who has found a unique niche by merging his passion for teaching with his love for the sport. He combines his background in teaching with certifications in football coaching and neuro-language coaching, allowing him to tailor his approach for football professionals and help them further their careers.
In this interview, Oscar shares his experience from teaching in Hong Kong to his famous students!
The interview has been condensed and lightly edited for grammar and clarity.
[ How did you get started in teaching? Who were you teaching? ]
It started with a bit of luck. I was traveling with my wife - we’d been traveling for one year and we didn’t want to come back to Spain!
Previously, I had worked in various areas, including administration and similar tasks. Anyway, we were looking at options so we could stay abroad and I came across a teaching offer in Hong Kong.
I didn’t have any background in teaching but I started, got my certifications as a Spanish teacher for foreigners and did a lot of different courses. I had many different students but mainly my students were preparing for official exams or adults working at companies where Business Spanish would help them.
When my daughter was born we moved back to Spain. I live in the countryside so I started teaching online. This was before the ‘boom’ (in online education) - back then, it was still quite new to teach online. Since then I've been teaching online to different types of students with different needs.
[ How did you switch to football language coaching? ]
Like most kids, I dreamed of being a footballer - I had always been a fan but never played at a high level or coached or anything.
I had been teaching Spanish for 10 years and became kind of bored teaching the same things every day. I was thinking about trying something else but didn’t know exactly what to do. One day, I came across some YouTube videos of Max Steegmüller, the German teacher at Bayern Munich.
I saw him doing this and it was kind of like magic, it was in the precise moment I was looking for a new project, new ideas. It was quite inspiring to see him teaching football players there and I thought, this is something I would love to do.
I got certifications as a Neuro-language coach and this has opened and changed my methodology and teaching philosophy a lot. After I decided to focus on teaching football industry professionals, I also got my certification as a sports coach. I think knowing more about how things work as a player and coach is useful and means I can better understand the needs of the industry.
I’ve been focusing on this (teaching Spanish for football) fully for about a year now. At the beginning, well still, it’s difficult to get students but it’s been cool to shift everything to football. I understand the needs of footballers much more now, and this allows me to guide them better and more effectively toward achieving their goals.
[ What is the neural language certification? ]
The Neuro Language Coaching certification is the first and only language coaching certificate certified by the ICF - the International Coaching Federation.
Neuro Language Coaching is about better understanding how the brain learns best. It focuses on a more comprehensive and collaborative, less directive approach. It combines neuroscience with coaching techniques to create a tailored and efficient language learning experience.
Learners are guided to overcome mental blocks, reduce stress, and improve retention. The approach encourages setting clear goals, fostering autonomy, and using positive reinforcement, helping learners to build confidence and take ownership of their progress. This combination ultimately accelerates language acquisition while keeping the learner motivated and engaged.
"Neuro Language Coaching is about better understanding how the brain learns best"
[ How did you get started in football language coaching - where did your first students come from? ]
At first, I was reaching out to clubs and players’ agents but this wasn’t very successful. I was in touch with lots of people including agents, and clubs - and all of them liked the idea but in the end it didn’t happen. This was quite frustrating, I found it’s quite difficult to sell something straight to a club or straight to players.
I have a podcast as well that’s been really helpful. It’s called Guiris del deporte, and I interview players and coaches for whom learning a language has been important in their careers. We discuss their experiences of adaptation, their fears, anecdotes, and they share their advice on how they learned the language.
I also interviewed other coaches who, like me, teach languages to people in the football industry. I learned a lot about their paths, their beginnings, what they needed and what they did. I started meeting other people, one guy especially, Matt from Competitive Edge. He’s been quite successful and he’s helped me with recommendations from his students and helped me get some of my first students. I will always be grateful for his collaboration.
[ I saw that Heiko Westermann is one of your students? ]
(haha) Yes, he’s my student. I started with him before he signed for Barcelona, he was in a hurry to learn Spanish! He already spoke some Spanish because he’d been at Betis for one season. He has put in a lot of effort during our program and is still making progress today.
As a Barcelona fan, it’s amazing for me to be able to assist him during this important phase.
—^interviewer’s note: Heiko Westermann is a former German international who has become something of a cult hero at ex-club Hamburger SV. He joined Hansi Flick’s coaching staff at Barcelona this summer.
[ What is the balance between the football specific and more ‘day to day’ Spanish? ]
I don't work on groceries or restaurants; everything is football-related. Our main topic is football, so everything revolves around it—about matches, players, and similar subjects. I help them improve their vocabulary and communication skills depending on their specific situations, such as conducting training sessions, team talks, and interacting with fans or media.
[ Do you only do one to one lessons or also groups? ]
Just one to one. If the students aren’t at the same level or don’t have the same goals, it’s difficult. Usually I customize the lessons for the student as well. If my student is someone who plays at or works at Tottenham, I’ll talk about players at Tottenham and the Premier League because it’s more engaging and more helpful to how they might use the language.
[ Now that you’re becoming more established - how do you find clients now? ]
The way that always works the best is word of mouth!
Of course, I advertise on social media, but the most effective marketing comes from word of mouth. The success of my program serves as the best advertisement—when my students achieve their results, it’s the best calling card I could have.
The podcast and LinkedIn has been great for getting in contact with a lot of people - lots of people working in football are on there.
[ Do you also teach players’ families? ]
Yeah, I’ve done that too. Sometimes my students will move with their family, their wives and their kids and have asked me if I would do ‘normal’ lessons with them as well.
[ What does your schedule look like? ]
I teach maybe about 20 something hours a week. Usually that means about 20 students but it depends.
[ Do you think the importance of learning the language of the country you play in is losing importance as teams - especially in the top divisions - get more international? ]
I think it’s different for coaches or staff compared to players. If we talk about players, I think it’s not as important (as it was). They mainly need to focus on being prepared physically and technically. And football is more open all the time, there are players from every country playing all over the world. I had a student in Greece who’s team had 11 Argentinian’s - half the team was speaking Spanish!
I think from the staff side - if you’re a manager, or in marketing, if you want to move and expand your career, you will still need to learn another language. Maybe if you are English you can get away with it but if you’re German or Italian and want to work in a different country, you’ll have to learn English at least - and it’s the same in football.
In Spain though, if you work at a Spanish club, then for sure you will need some Spanish! And it’s not just about the club, all the fans, all the media is centered on football. If you speak Spanish it means something, it’s a sign you want to integrate, live in a city and be close to the fans, so it’s not just about the football field.
"I think from the staff side - if you’re a manager, or in marketing, if you want to move and expand your career, you will still need to learn another language"
[ Makes a lot of sense to compare players and coaches differently. It reminds me of the probably somewhat exaggerated stories - that always ‘appeared’ when he was in poor form - about Gareth Bale and how he quite famously didn’t speak Spanish? ]
I read an interview with his teacher - who had been a player in the lower leagues. He said Gareth Bale had fantastic Spanish but he was scared or embarrassed about not speaking perfectly. I don’t know if it’s true, I’ve never heard Bale speak any Spanish but that could be.
[ Sergio Agüero was another famous example, he spent a decade in the Premier League but claimed not to speak English to get out of doing interviews! ]
I like the idea that everyone has a different view of perfection too. But even Guardiola or Klopp make some mistakes in English so it doesn’t have to be perfect. The important thing is to communicate.
[ What are your goals for the future? What’s next? ]
When I started, my goal was to work for FC Barcelona - so I’m kind of doing it!
I’m quite happy but my main goal is to keep helping people to achieve their Spanish goals. It would be fantastic to become the official teacher for a club; being part of a club from the inside would be an incredible experience, like Max Steegmüller does at FC Bayern Munich. We'll see what happens.
I would also love to record some materials and create an online school where students can complete the course independently, with plenty of resources, allowing me to reach more students.