Ian Coll

Ian Coll is a high-performance practitioner and UEFA-qualified coach with two decades of professional experience across elite European football, combining sports science leadership with coaching delivery in first-team and academy environments. He is currently Head of Performance at AC Sparta Praha (June 2025–present), based on-site in Prague, where he leads the club’s performance strategy and supports the integration of physical development within the wider football model.

Alongside his club role, Coll is the Director of ATP Sports Science Ltd (Dubai & UK) (November 2016–present), providing consultancy to professional clubs, teams, and individual players. His work through ATP Sports Science includes performance optimisation support, athletic development consulting for sporting organisations, and multi-sport sports science delivery, reflecting a blend of applied practice and strategic programme design.

Before joining Sparta Praha, he held senior performance leadership in the United States with Las Vegas Lights FC, first as High Performance Director (July 2024–May 2025) and then as an Assistant Coach (January 2025–May 2025), adding a clear coaching component to his performance background. In 2023, he worked in Bulgaria as Head of Fitness & Assistant Coach at Botev Plovdiv (June 2023–November 2023), and in Croatia with HNK Hajduk Split, where he served as Head of Fitness (January 2022–June 2023) and later Assistant Football Coach (November 2022–June 2023), supporting training delivery and performance planning within a first-team setting. Prior to Hajduk, he was Head of Performance at Universitatea Craiova in Romania (February 2021–January 2022), and Head of Sports Science at PFC Ludogorets 1945 (April 2018–February 2021), leading first-team sports science strategy and daily monitoring processes.

A major foundation of his career was built at Celtic FC, where he progressed through multiple roles across nearly eight years. He started as Youth Academy Sport Scientist (January 2009–August 2013), supporting academy age groups from U9 to U19 with testing and development frameworks, before stepping into first-team work as First Team Sport Scientist(September 2013–February 2015). He then became Head of Sports Science (February 2015–October 2016), overseeing the club’s first-team and development squad sports science and strength and conditioning philosophy, testing structures, player monitoring systems (including GPS and heart-rate), and injury risk reduction processes, while coordinating with medical and nutrition staff and supervising the wider sports science team.

Coll has also contributed to higher education as an Associate Lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland(January 2017–August 2017), teaching human physiology, and he began his professional pathway in club football as First Team Sport Scientist at Airdrie United FC (July 2006–January 2009), following earlier fitness and coaching development.

He holds a BSc (1st Class Honours) in Sports Science from the University of the West of Scotland, and has progressed through multiple coaching qualifications including the UEFA A Licence. In 2025, he completed a Masters in Tactical Periodisation (Vítor Frade methodology), reinforcing his expertise in aligning physical development with tactical objectives and training design within the football week.

Academic institution: University of the West of Scotland
Practical affiliation (current & previous): AC Sparta Praha; Celtic FC; PFC Ludogorets; Universitatea Craiova; HNK Hajduk Split; Botev Plovdiv; Las Vegas Lights FC
Languages spoken: English, Bulgarian
Content feature: Developing the modern-day player
Area: Training methodology