The article presents the basics of the competence approach to the professional activity of a football coach-teacher in a process of sports selection. To train and teach children, teenagers and young people to play football is a difficult, from many points of view, professional and pedagogical task. It is necessary, first of all, that the coach-teacher as a football specialist was able to combine the understanding of technical, technical-tactical, tactical-strategic, on the one hand, as well as educational, communicative and psycho-physiological qualities on the other. In this case, the trainer-teacher must always take into account the age characteristics of the development of their players. It is known that the early transition of young talented players to professional football teams has, in general, not entirely predictable consequences. At the same time, the objective reality is that it is impossible to predict the future professional level of young players. Therefore, an important professional competence of a coach-teacher is the ability to "hold" and then "push" your talented student in the transition from one level to another. The competence of a football coach should cover all areas of teaching the basics of physical education and sports at school age and provides in-depth knowledge in many areas to address issues related to the dynamics and specifics of learning to play football. Particular attention should be paid to the development of creative game thinking and the formation of coordination skills, which are the basis of movement techniques and game actions. For a coach of young football players, who is endowed with such characteristics, it is a determining factor in achieving results that bring professional satisfaction and creative success.