James Barlow
Join Ben Bartlett for this live Q&A as he speaks to James Barlow, head of academy at Portsmouth, about his approach to playing football
Pricing
Elite Soccer Coaching Award enrollees only
Details
Date: Monday 10 August
Time: 6-7pm BST / 1-2pm ET
Location: Online (Zoom)
About James
Portsmouth born and bred, James Barlow is head of academy at Portsmouth, having been promoted to the role in February 2026 following four years as head of coaching, almost two years as U18 coach, and a year as senior academy analyst at his hometown club.
Previous academy experiences include youth development phase academy coach and futsal specific lead coach at Nottingham Forest and YDP coach at Burton Albion.
In a coaching career which encompasses football and futsal, Barlow has also spent time coaching with Loughborough Foxes, Loughborough University, Boston United, Loughborough College, the University of Nottingham and the International Futsal Academy.
Eight years of work with The Football Association included time spent as England deaf futsal U21s head coach, England U19s futsal coach, England Futsal 19s and senior performance analyst, and a tutor for both the Football Level 1 and 2 and Futsal Level 1 and 2.
Barlow also spent five years as a sport lecturer at Loughborough College, two years as head of the futsal advisory group for British Universities & College Sport and time as a first team scout with Shrewsbury Town.
Barlow holds the UEFA A licence in football, UEFA B licence in futsal, the FA Advanced Youth Award (specialising in the youth development phase), an Elite Coach Development postgraduate diploma in from the Premier League.
Across the 25/26 season, a number of the coaches at Portsmouth Academy completed the Elite Soccer Coaching Award under his stewardship.