Spanish winners: Torres, Mata and Ramos with the Euro 2012 trophy
On 10th June 2016, the UEFA European Championship (EURO) kicks off in France, the host country, with 24 sides competing in the contest. To celebrate we've compiled a range of FREE learning resources on football and the competing nations. You can:
- Dig deeper into the psychology of penalties and pressure moments in sports with articles by author Ben Lyttleton.
- Boot it like Bale? Kick it like Kane? Try your accuracy in our penalty shoot out game.
- Read up on Euro 2016 with blogs from the OU Sport & Fitness Team.
- Discover various methods of football coaching with our collection of articles.
- Swot up by taking a free course on football and sport.
- Explore the language & culture of some of the competing nations in Euro 16.
- Become an OU student.
Uncover the mindset & training for pressure moments in sport
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Can you train for penalty shoot-outs?
England has the worst record for penalty shoot-outs in international football competitions - could purposeful practise end this?
Read nowCan you train for penalty shoot-outs? -
The art of performing under pressure
Penalty shoot-outs, 12-foot putts and second-serves are all high pressure moments in football, golf and tennis respectively. How would acclaimed kicking coach Dave Alred train the athletes to succeed in the moment?
Read nowThe art of performing under pressureLevel: 1 Introductory
Boot it like Bale or squander it like Sterling? Try our penalty game
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Penalty shoot out game
Are you going to waste it like Waddle or smash it like Shearer? Play our strategic shoot-out football game to find out how you'd fare.
Take part nowPenalty shoot out gameLevel: 1 Introductory
Dig deeper into Euro 16 with the OU Sport & Fitness team
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European Championships 2016: Home Nations dare to dream or will it be an early Brexit?
France are the bookies' favourites when it comes to who will win the UEFA European Championship but who else should we keep an eye on?
Read nowEuropean Championships 2016: Home Nations dare to dream or will it be an early Brexit?Level: 1 Introductory
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Under Pressure again: Can the England team bring football home?
Can the young England team with the likes of Vardy, Kane and Dele Alli lay the ghosts of the past 50 years to rest by triumphing at UEFA Euro 2016?
Read nowUnder Pressure again: Can the England team bring football home?Level: 1 Introductory
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Penalty Pressure Potential at Euro 2016
Can you tell whether a football player is going successfully score a penalty just by seeing how they prepare for it?
Read nowPenalty Pressure Potential at Euro 2016Level: 1 Introductory
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Making young children give everything to football is a bad idea – here’s why
British football clubs want children to specialise in only football from a young age, but would a multi-sports club produce better players?
Read nowMaking young children give everything to football is a bad idea – here’s whyLevel: 1 Introductory
What tactics should the next England manager employ?
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Managing a team through triumph and despair
In sport, how does a manager help their team to cope with success and particular failure? Simon Rea explores some of the tactics.
Read nowManaging a team through triumph and despairLevel: 1 Introductory
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Learning from coaching stories
What can we learn from the coaching of champions like Mo Farah, the Arsenal football team and Roger Federer? Ben Oakley finds out.
Read nowLearning from coaching stories -
MK Dons manager Karl Robinson on leading a winning team
As MK Dons hit the headlines beating Manchester United 4-0, find out what manager Karl Robinson thinks on how empowering your team is a crucial element of creative leadership.
Read nowMK Dons manager Karl Robinson on leading a winning teamLevel: 1 Introductory
Fanatical about football? Try one of our free courses
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The business of football
Welcome to this free course, The business of football, produced by The Open University working in partnership with The English Football League Trust. If you are fascinated by football and interested in discovering more about business and management, then this engaging and stimulating course, which provides the opportunity to share and comment on your learning with others, is for you. You can progress at your own pace over 3 to 5 weeks, and it will take a minimum of around 9 hours of your time over this period.
Learn moreThe business of footballLevel: 1 Introductory
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Sport media and culture: Who's calling the shots?
The media plays a huge part in sport; we find out what's happening and how our team is doing, and it creates great sporting moments and sports celebrities and stars. This free course, Sport media and culture: Who's calling the shots?, looks at the role played by the media in sport and how this has changed with the development of internet and satellite TV. Who calls the shots: athletes, teams or the media moguls? How do social scientists explain this relationship between sport and the media?
Learn moreSport media and culture: Who's calling the shots?Level: 1 Introductory
Explore the culture & language of some of the competing nations
Wales
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Wales: Culture and identity
Wales is a vibrant nation with its own language, musical heritage and strong cultural identity. Central to this identity and a source of national pride, is rugby, which is deeply embedded in the national consciousness and explored in ‘Rugby and welsh identity’. Away from the sports pitch, this collection also looks at place and belonging, gender and race, nationalism and language, class, work, and political and cultural representation in Wales. This material forms part of The Open University course D172 Contemporary Wales.
Listen nowWales: Culture and identityLevel: 1 Introductory
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Contemporary Wales
This free course provides an accessible and lively social science account of contemporary Wales. It introduces key aspects of the economy, society, politics and culture of Wales, providing a wealth of up-to-date evidence that is organised around core social science concepts and theories, to help you make sense of a changing nation.
Learn moreContemporary WalesLevel: 1 Introductory
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Wales and rugby
Gareth Williams talks about rugby and its place in Welsh culture.
Listen nowWales and rugbyLevel: 1 Introductory
Spain
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Beginners’ Spanish: food and drink
Do you want to improve your language skills and communicate more easily and effectively in Spanish? This free course, Beginners’ Spanish: food and drink, focuses on buying and ordering food and drink at a restaurant or bar. You will be able to use some basic vocabulary relating to food, drinks, meals, quantities and measures. In this OpenLearn course you will listen to Spanish speakers in a variety of situations.
Learn moreBeginners’ Spanish: food and drinkLevel: 1 Introductory
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Designing the Spanish nation
Delve into the politics behind the national symbols of modern Spain.
Read nowDesigning the Spanish nationLevel: 1 Introductory
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Daughters of Spain timeline
Meet some of Spain’s extraordinary women through the centuries in this interactive timeline.
Take part nowDaughters of Spain timelineLevel: 1 Introductory
Northern Ireland
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A clash of rights: Parading in Northern Ireland
What is the background to the North Belfast parading dispute?
Read nowA clash of rights: Parading in Northern IrelandLevel: 1 Introductory
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The geology of Northern Ireland
Discover the exceptional geological diversity of Northern Ireland.
Read nowThe geology of Northern IrelandLevel: 1 Introductory
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Education in Northern Ireland: segregation, division and sectarianism?
Is education in Northern Ireland a vehicle for social cohesion or for perpetuating community divisions?
Read nowEducation in Northern Ireland: segregation, division and sectarianism?Level: 2 Intermediate
Italy
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Andante: beginners' Italian
Do you want to learn the basics in Italian? The audio tracks in this collection are devised for learning simple Italian, including expressions for greetings, ordering food and drinks, booking into a hotel and talking about a recent holiday. The tracks contain sample recordings with suggestions for how to pronounce Italian sounds, along with some activities to help improve your listening and speaking skills. This material forms part of The Open University course L195 Andante: beginners' Italian."
Listen nowAndante: beginners' ItalianLevel: 1 Introductory
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Beginners’ Italian: food and drink
This free course, Beginners' Italian: food and drink, focuses on buying drinks and snacks in an Italian café, as well as on greeting and introducing yourself in Italian. It does not require any previous knowledge of Italian.
Learn moreBeginners’ Italian: food and drinkLevel: 1 Introductory
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The Italian Patient: Health care in Renaissance Italy
Were Renaissance hospitals hell-holes? John Henderson finds similarities to today's health care, and Katherine Park shows that autopsies were often performed.
Read nowThe Italian Patient: Health care in Renaissance ItalyLevel: 1 Introductory
Germany
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The Great Fall: Germany 25 years later
Do East and West Germans' views on the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin wall differ greatly?
Read nowThe Great Fall: Germany 25 years laterLevel: 1 Introductory
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Rundblick: beginners' German
This series of clips looks at speaking, pronunciation and listening practice on the theme of Food and Drink. Material is taken from The Open University Course L193 Rundblick: beginners' German.
Listen nowRundblick: beginners' GermanLevel: 1 Introductory
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Beginners’ German: Food and drink
This free course, Beginners' German: Food and drink, provides materials that support the development of listening, reading, writing and speaking skills. The content focuses on food, restaurants and eating habits. The course also gives examples of how grammar, vocabulary, cultural aspects and study skills are taught by the OU in the Beginners' German module.
Learn moreBeginners’ German: Food and drinkLevel: 1 Introductory
Ireland
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Timeline: History of Ireland
Delve into Irish history with our interactive timeline.
Take part nowTimeline: History of IrelandLevel: 1 Introductory
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The Arts Past and Present: Ireland
Do we use our buildings to declare who we are? How far does our heritage influence our collective identity? This insightful album reveals Ireland's shifting attitudes towards its cultural heritage. In 1922 when it broke free of British rule to become an independent nation state, the Irish nationalists abandoned high-profile buildings like Dublin Castle as it was symbolic of their British oppressors, and it fell into ruin. Yet they proudly restored older sites like Cashel and New Grange, which is even older than the pyramids, to emphasise an earlier romantic Irish past. In doing so they literally reconstructed their new identity through obliterating the memories they didn't want to keep and reinforcing those they did. Today, with the passing of time and after joining the EU, the neglected buildings no longer provoke associations with a painful colonial history. St Mary's Church is now appreciated as a bar as well as a work of art. Ireland has moved on, and now embraces all of its heritage. In the audio track, Anne Laurence, a History Professor at The Open University, elaborates on the issues addressed in the album. This material is drawn from The Open University course AA100 The arts past and present.
Listen nowThe Arts Past and Present: IrelandLevel: 1 Introductory
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The future of rural Ireland - nuances, scale and fighting back
The future of rural Ireland - nuances, scale and fighting back
Read nowThe future of rural Ireland - nuances, scale and fighting back
France
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Bon départ: beginners' French
Want to learn the basics in French? The 18 audios in the album are devised for beginner learners of French and include a series of short conversations in which you will hear people greeting each other, asking how to get somewhere, asking who someone is, buying things, ordering breakfast in a café and talking about what they eat for breakfast, booking a hotel room, and using numbers and letters. There is also a track to help with pronunciation. This material forms part of The Open University course L192 Bon départ: beginners' French.
Listen nowBon départ: beginners' FrenchLevel: 1 Introductory
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Beginners’ French: A trip to Avignon
This free course, Beginners’ French: A trip to Avignon, helps you to acquire the basic language to find your way around a French town. You will learn how to understand and give directions, ask about accommodation, book a hotel room at the tourist information office and get information about what to see and do in the local area. You will visit some museums in Avignon and buy a film for your camera. The course also deals with telling the time and making liaisons in speech. By the end of the course, you will feel more confident understanding and giving information about towns, seeking clarification and dealing with numbers. You will also have developed your oral fluency and your reading skills.
Learn moreBeginners’ French: A trip to AvignonLevel: 1 Introductory
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Explore the baking and culture of Europe: France
French bread doesn't start and end with the baguette
Take part nowExplore the baking and culture of Europe: FranceLevel: 1 Introductory
England
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The History of English in Ten Minutes
Where did the phrase ‘a wolf in sheep’s clothing’ come from? And when did scientists finally get round to naming sexual body parts? Voiced by Clive Anderson, this entertaining romp through 'The History of English' squeezes 1600 years of history into 10 one-minute bites, uncovering the sources of English words and phrases from Shakespeare and the King James Bible to America and the Internet. Bursting with fascinating facts, the series looks at how English grew from a small tongue into a major global language before reflecting on the future of English in the 21st century.
Watch nowThe History of English in Ten MinutesLevel: 1 Introductory
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Why study English language?
How can becoming an English language student change your life or your job? Find out how to take your interest further by studying with the Open University.
Read nowWhy study English language?Level: 1 Introductory
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Exploring the English language
How has the English language changed over the course of the last 500 years? What are the social and political contexts that have affected how these changes have come about? This free course, Exploring the English language, will consider the development of the English language from the 15th to the 19th century.
Learn moreExploring the English languageLevel: 2 Intermediate
Become an Open University student
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BSc (Honours) Sport, Fitness and Coaching
If you're an aspiring or practising leader of sport or fitness activities, this degree will develop your skills and understanding of sports science, psychology, training, coaching and leadership. It will enhance your awareness of your own role, increase your effectiveness at work and develop your communication and analytical skills ? boosting your career prospects. You'll apply science and theory to practice, reflecting on case studies or real and potential work situations. Drawing on video, text and online materials, you'll focus on the all-round physical and psychological needs of sports participants or exercise clients.
Learn moreBSc (Honours) Sport, Fitness and Coaching -
BA (Honours) Business Management (Sport and Football)
Do you want to combine your passion for football with your desire to obtain a business degree? The Open University degree in Business Management (Sport and Football) – designed in partnership with the Football League Trust - will develop your understanding of the wider business world using case studies and examples from the football industry. You will develop your skills and understanding of business, management, training and sport with a focus on football. Your studies will use film, text and online materials to help you apply theory to real world situations. Students in England and Wales will be able to attend workshops at Football League stadia to gain a wider understanding of a professional club. This degree will enhance your career prospects and develop a wide range of business skills which are transferable beyond sport and football.
Learn moreBA (Honours) Business Management (Sport and Football)
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