SWOT Football

  The title of the tool 
SWOT Football 

2. The learning objective of the tool 

 understand the elements and logic of SWOT analysis, 
 appreciate it as a simple to apply tool for decision making (also for selection of suitable business ideas), 
 be able to apply it correctly, 
 be able to draw right conclusions from it. 

3. Target Group 
People in NEET 

4. Duration of the Tool 
30 min – 1 hour 

5. Preparation (Preparation before the implementation, needed materials etc.) 
1.Materials:  For the trainers and participants: 
 Marker 
 Soft board Pins 
 Soft board 
 Flip chart and flip chart paper 
 Whistle 
 Ball 
 Material to be used as goal posts 
 Shirts in different colour (optional) 
 Large space to play the football match 

2.Preparation 
 Introduction – to motivate participants introduce the exercise as an opportunity to practise entrepreneurial qualities 
 Explanation of Rules – explanation of the task, rules and conditions for the football match – Announce the time for each half 


 Football match starts. During the game referee is not fair, more supportive to the weaker team. He/she should make ridiculous decisions in favour of one of the teams. The team supported by the referee should win the match 

6. Instructions to implement the tool 
After the match.  After the match the trainer gives cards to the participants. He explains their task, and that is to write one (or more) positive and one negative thing about the game from their own perspective.  Do not mention strengths or weaknesses. Participants will probably find out ‘negative’ versus ‘positive’ cards as a pattern.  Trainer takes an empty soft board and puts a vertical line with masking tape, with ‘positive’ on the left side and ‘negative’ on the right side. Participants now instruct him, where to put the cards.  For example ‘Referee’ could be good or bad. The point is that the statement was not clear enough. ‘Biased referee’ is clearer and can be put under ‘negative’.  This one aims at ‘controllable’ and ‘uncontrollable’ and is more difficult to get from participants. If they don’t get it alone, take two suitable cards and ask them again: what is the difference between these two cards?  Trainer puts a horizontal masking tape in the middle of the soft board and the one metaplan card ‘controllable’ on the very left in the upper part and another card ‘uncontrollable’ in the lower part. Then he takes the first card on the left side and asks: controllable or not? Accordingly he puts the card on left side in the upper or lower part. He continues like this until all cards are in the correct position. Whenever there is a dispute ‘controllable yes or no?’ the reason will be an unprécise formulation of the statement on the card.  Participants see that there are 4 quadrants on the soft board: upper left and right, lower left and right. Let participants invent suitable names, if possible as needed for SWOT and put these titles into the quandrants. 
Lead participants to SWOT and explain in detail 

Strength: enhance 
Weakness: eliminate 
Opportunity: explore 
Threat: avoid 

 Take one example from brainstorm and let them quickly and verbally make some SWOT statements. For each statement, ask them also to say into which quadrant it belongs. You can also point at one participant and ask him/her to state a ‘weakness’ of that project, then the next one a ‘strength’. And so on, until you realize that they got it. 

7. Skills – SDGs – Key Competences Chart 
SDG 4 – Quality education; SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth; SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and infrastructure; SDG 10 –Reducing inequalities 

8. Sum Up / Debriefing / Reflection at the end of the implementation 

 How did you interpret the task? 
 On what basis did you develop your strategy? 
 For what reasons could the problem be resolved or not be resolved?   
 How did the winning group develop the strategy? 
 What were the reasons for success? 
 What made the losing group different? 
 For what reasons did they fail?   
 What would you have done in a third round? 
 What do an entrepreneur need to re-solve problems without wasting time and resources? 
 Finally, explain the elements of the problem solving cycle with an example   distribute problem solving cycle as handout.

9. Any tips / suggestions to the trainers for the further implementations 
If heavy towards strengths and threats with almost no weaknesses, it suggests the entrepreneur has not been objective (he fell in love with his idea). If heavy towards weaknesses, the business is not viable. Hence needs review.  Any decision, even in private life (give the example of one participant who came back next day after SWOT and said: yesterday night I thought about SWOT and applied it on my husband. If I knew SWOT before I would never have married him.  Friends, family, partners  Research, market data, sector economy  No quantitative results, no scales. 

10. Resources / References 
SWOT analyses 

Chart of the Section 7: 


Reinforced skills 
(Empathy, Communication etc.) 

SDGs targeted 
(SDG4 – Quality in Education etc.) 

Erasmus+ Key Competences 
(Learning to Learn, Social Competences etc.) 
Making analysis SDG 4 – Quality education Learning to learn 
Developing strategy SDG 8 – Decent work and economic growth Sense of Initiative and Entrepreneurship 
Team work SDG 5 – Gender equality Social and Civic Competences 

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