Published by Saideline. We compare The Coaching Manual as fairly as we can, using its public website and help pages (details checked October 2026).
Quick answer: The Coaching Manual is the better fit if you want a deep library of professional sessions with video, season plans and a diagram tool to draw your own practices. Saideline is the better fit if you want a session built for you from a specific request, with players assigned to game forms and teams built automatically. Saideline costs €9/month or €90/year (incl. VAT) and starts with 3 free sessions without payment details.
Both help soccer coaches plan better sessions, but they work in opposite ways. One gives you content and tools. The other builds the session for you.
What The Coaching Manual Offers
The Coaching Manual is a soccer-only platform. Its site describes 2,000+ sessions, drills and practices within 6,000+ pieces of content, including sessions filmed at Southampton FC and Rangers FC academies. Each drill sits inside a full session with set-up, coaching points and progressions. It is available as a web app and as mobile apps, and it serves coaches in the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.
The platform has several plans. Basic is for browsing practice ideas, with folders, favourites, filters and comments. Standard adds video footage of top coaches, age-appropriate sessions and advice on working with children, and lets you save or print sessions and use them in the apps. Premium unlocks every video and static practice, a Season Plans tool that builds a full season curriculum from a short questionnaire, and a Session Builder for your own sessions. Enterprise is for directors of coaching managing multiple coaches. We couldn't find prices for individual plans on the pages we reviewed. A club page lists a club plan at $180 per month for all coaching staff, with an account manager and onboarding.
Its diagram creator works by drag and drop, with 18 pitch templates, players, equipment, shapes and lines, and a duplicate tool for progressions. A practice creator lets you add coaching points, images and videos. Practices can be saved in folders, shared with your team and printed. We didn't find AI session generation or PDF export described on the pages we reviewed.
What Saideline Does Differently
Saideline doesn't ask you to draw or assemble the session. You describe what you want to train as a phase of play, a principle, a player count, a space and your constraints, and it matches game forms precisely to that request. Each game form shows a Perfect Match, Close Match or Modified badge. The app is available in German and English, and you can write your prompt in any language.
After the plan, it keeps going. With the squad feature, you rank your players once, and the AI assigns whoever is present to the game forms and builds the teams. Parallel groups handle uneven headcounts. You can reorder game forms by drag and drop and export a printable two-page plan. Sessions cover U8 to U19.
Side-by-Side
- Approach: Saideline: AI builds the session from your request. The Coaching Manual: Professional content library, session builder and diagram tool.
- Content: Saideline: Game forms matched to your request. The Coaching Manual: 2,000+ sessions, 6,000+ pieces of content, video from Southampton FC and Rangers FC academies.
- Price (individual): Saideline: €9/month or €90/year (incl. VAT). The Coaching Manual: Individual prices not found on the pages we reviewed.
- Club price: Saideline: Free month for all coaches of a club, on request. The Coaching Manual: Club plan listed at $180/month (currency not named on the page).
- Free start: Saideline: 3 free sessions, no payment details needed, all features. The Coaching Manual: Basic sign-up for coaches; we couldn't confirm what it includes for free.
- Drawing diagrams: Saideline: Not the focus. The Coaching Manual: Diagram creator with 18 pitch templates.
- Season plans: Saideline: Not documented. The Coaching Manual: Season Plans tool (Premium).
- Match feedback: Saideline: Badge on every game form. The Coaching Manual: Not documented.
- Squad and team building: Saideline: Ranked squad, AI-built teams, absence handling. The Coaching Manual: Not documented.
- Uneven squads: Saideline: Automatic parallel groups. The Coaching Manual: Not documented.
- Printing: Saideline: Two-page PDF export. The Coaching Manual: Print layout for practices; PDF not mentioned.
- Platform: Saideline: Web. The Coaching Manual: Web app and mobile apps.
Where The Coaching Manual Wins
If you want to learn from professional sessions, it's hard to beat. Video from top academies, a large library, season plans for every age group, and the diagram tool give you everything to build a coaching curriculum. It also has a mobile app, which Saideline doesn't, and a structured offer for clubs with an account manager. Directors of coaching who want one consistent curriculum across many coaches will find a lot there.
Where Saideline Wins
If time is your bottleneck, building sessions from a library and drawing diagrams takes effort too. Saideline builds the session around your request, shows you how well each game form fits, and carries the plan through to the teams, uneven squads and a printout. You can start with 3 free sessions and pay monthly or yearly in euros.
Which One Should You Use?
Choose The Coaching Manual if you want professional content, video and season planning. Choose Saideline if you want the session built for you with teams included. Some coaches use a content library for ideas and an AI planner for the weekly session. For a wider overview, see our guide to the best soccer practice planning apps, and for plans in detail our pricing guide. Our other comparisons: Saideline vs. Coachbetter, Saideline vs. Sport Session Planner and Saideline vs. CoachFrank. Directors can also test Saideline free for up to one month with their whole staff.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a good alternative to The Coaching Manual? It depends on what you need. For AI-built sessions with teams and a printable plan, Saideline is an alternative. Coachbetter offers a drill library with courses, and CoachFrank is a free option.
How does Saideline's price compare to The Coaching Manual's? Saideline costs €9/month or €90/year (incl. VAT), with 3 free sessions at the start. We couldn't find individual plan prices for The Coaching Manual on the pages we reviewed, so check its pricing page.
Does The Coaching Manual use AI to create sessions? We didn't find AI session generation described on its pages. Saideline builds sessions from your prompt with AI.
Does The Coaching Manual have a free plan? Its coach sign-up is described as a way to start free with a basic plan. We couldn't confirm which features it includes.
Can clubs try Saideline before committing? Yes. Clubs can test Saideline with all their coaches for up to one month, with no obligation and no payment method needed. Directors can use the contact form in our website footer or write to jens@saideline.com.
