Heart of Midlothian head coach Steven Naismith could begin working towards his UEFA Pro Licence next month.

The Hearts boss has had to wait to enrol on the course following the completion of his A Licence. It prevented him from being named as the club's head coach at the start of the season due to UEFA regulations around managing in European competition. 

UEFA requires managers to possess their Pro Licence, the highest coaching certification available in Europe, when taking charge of a team in the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League. Therefore Naismith was installed as technical director with Frankie McAvoy as head coach.

Following the European exit, Hearts confirmed the coaching structure change in September which saw Naismith become head coach and McAvoy return to his position of assistant coach.

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UEFA does provide dispensation in European competitions for coaches who have enrolled on the Pro Licence course and are studying toward the qualification. And that could happen for Naismith at the end of the season.

Hearts Standard understands that due to the number of strong candidates ready to begin the course the SFA coach education department has been permitted by UEFA to run a second course alongside the current one which started in 2023 and ends in 2025.

The new course is due to begin at the end of May and run until May 2026. While the candidates are yet to be announced, Naismith is likely to be amongst the new intake.

There are several familiar names on the Pro Licence currently being run including former Hearts players Don Cowie, Neil MacFarlane, Christophe Berra and Steven MacLean. They are part of the 20-strong group that was selected from a pool of 130 applicants in 2023.