At the Special Olympics Unified Football World Cup Paris 2026, Special Olympics coaches spent most of their time plotting against one another’s teams. Planning how they can break down their opponent’s defence, how they can keep a threatening striker away from goal, or stop a speedy winger from sending in a dangerous cross.
Rivals on the touchline, but united in their values and mission.
As part of the Unified Football World Cup, coaches were tasked with not only observing their own team and their opposition players but also watching the other coaches. Not watching for their tactics or to gain a competitive advantage for when they eventually faced each other on the side-line but watching how they conducted themselves on and off the field of play. They studied how each coach brought their team together in successful and challenging moments and how they interacted with the officials, volunteers, opposition players, and the environment.
The greatest compliment someone can receive is recognition from their peers—particularly when competing against each other day in and day out. In Paris, the coaches of each team voted for one of their colleagues to be the named the Soccerex Coaches’ Coach with one winner from the men’s competition and one winner from the women’s competition.
The winners were announced at the final coaches meeting of the competition.
Winner of the Soccerex Coaches’ Coach Award
I want to express my sincere gratitude to each of my colleagues from the various delegations who valued my work as a coach. This recognition is not just mine; it is the result of everything I have learned from great coaches throughout each competition and every experience I have had at Special Olympics. At Special Olympics, we always find people who inspire us, teach us, and help us grow, not only as professionals but also as human beings.
Being named the 'Coaches' Coach' is an incredible honour, and I am deeply proud to receive this recognition from my fellow coaches. To be acknowledged by peers who understand the challenges, commitment, and passion that coaching requires makes this award especially meaningful, and I am proud to bring this honour home to Thailand.
While the coaches spent the week in fierce competition with each other, the cheers of support when the winners were announced was emphasis that the competition stayed on the field while friendships were developed off it.
Soccerex is a global football networking organization and supporter of Special Olympics. Soccerex works to bring the right people, capital, companies, and institutions together around the opportunities shaping the future of football.
Through events, Deal Network, HerSoccerex, market insight, and strategic partnerships, Soccerex creates the platform for relationships to become partnerships. These partnerships become growth creating a lasting commercial and community value. In 2025, Soccerex and Special Olympics signed a four-year partnership agreement with a focus on their shared commitment to use football as a tool for inclusion.
Soccerex is aligned with Special Olympics' work in creating more inclusive football opportunities around the world.
The Soccerex Coaches’ Coach Award celebrates the true spirit of coaching, leadership, respect, and inclusion. This recognition is not about results on the scoreboard, but about the positive impact coaches have on players, officials, volunteers, and fellow coaches every day. Congratulations to our two deserving recipients. To be recognized by your fellow coaches makes this award especially meaningful, reflecting the respect, admiration, and lasting influence you have earned from those who understand the dedication it takes to lead through inclusion.
With the next Unified Football World Cup taking place in Asuncion, Paraguay, in 2028, Special Olympics will continue to support coaches through different continuous professional development opportunities. But the real impact will be the time and effort coaches and players put in to prepare for the competition in the years and months preceding the tournament.
