Adam Owen

Adam Owen (born 5 September 1980) is a Welsh professional football coach and former player. He attained a Ph.D. in Sport and Exercise Science from the University of Lyon, France & holds the UEFA Professional Coaching License.

Adam Owen Ph.D
Personal information
Date of birth (1980-09-05) 5 September 1980
Place of birth Wrexham
Playing position(s) Defender/midfielder
Youth career
– Wrexham
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–1999 Wrexham
1999–2000 Newtown
2001–2002 Connah's Quay
2002–2003 Cefn Druids
2004–2005 East Stirlingshire
Teams managed
2007–2013 Rangers FC Head of Performance
2013–2014 Sheffield Utd Ass. Manager
2014–2017 Servette FC Ass. Manager
2017–2018 Lechia Gdańsk Manager
2018–2019 Hebei China Fortune F.C. Ass. Coach
2020–present Seattle Sounders FC
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Early life

Owen was born and raised in Wrexham, North Wales.

Playing career

Owen signed as a professional player for Wrexham upon leaving school at the age of 16. After a loan spells at Newtown in the Welsh Premier League, he played for various clubs in the Welsh Premier League such as Connah's Quay and Cefn Druids. He also played for Scottish club East Stirlingshire during the 2005–06 season making 13 league appearances, scoring 1 goal in the Scottish FA Cup before moving back to England.[1] Owen has represented Wales at University level playing against England and Scotland in the British University Games.

Coaching career

Owen started his coaching career at Wrexham whilst still playing. Upon leaving Wrexham, he joined Scottish club Celtic. Following a two-year period working at Celtic Park under Martin O'Neill & Gordon Strachan as Fitness Coach and Youth Academy Coach, at the age of 25 years old, Owen joined Paul Sturrock's management team at Sheffield Wednesday where he remained for 12 months in the English Championship also working under Brian Laws. During his time at Hillsborough, Owen was approached and accepted the Head of Performance position at Rangers as part of Walter Smith's management staff at the age of 26.[2] During this period at Rangers the club experienced success domestically winning the SPL League Championship, SFA and SFL Cups on several occasions. This was combined with huge success in Europe (UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup campaigns) culminating in the 2008 UEFA Cup Final in Manchester.

Following nearly seven years at Rangers, he then moved to English club Sheffield United in May 2013 to take up the duel role of Assistant Manager and Performance Director.[3] After 12 months in Sheffield, in the summer of 2014 Owen left to join European club and Swiss giants Servette on a three-year contract where he was part of the 2015 League winning campaign.

After seeing out his contract with Servette Owen joined renowned Polish Ekstraklasa club Lechia Gdańsk at the end of June 2017.[4] Following a successful period as Head Coach during which he stabilised the club away from relegation, and promoting many youth players within the team, Owen left his position in March 2018 citing a change of club philosophy as the reason, but stated the chance to manager such a big club at a young age was an incredible experience and one he is immensely proud of.[5]

Following Lechia Gdańsk Owen again joined up with Chris Coleman signing a 2-year contract as his assistant coach in Hebei China Fortune FC in the Chinese Superleague, with Hebei CCFC narrowly missing out on the Asian Champions League places having risen through the league. During this period Owen worked with players such as Gervinho, Ezequiel Lavezzi, and Javier Mascherano. In the January 2020, it was announced that having been approached, Owen accepted the duel-role as High-Performance & Technical Advisor with the Major League Soccer giants & 2019 Champions Seattle Sounders FC.

International work

Owen has been a part of the Wales management staff since August 2009 initially working under both Brian Flynn and Gary Speed. He was part of Chris Coleman's successful 2016 European Championships management staff reaching the Semi-Final stage versus Portugal. He remained in the Wales backroom team under new manager Ryan Giggs but left his position following the 2018 China Cup Final appearance vs. Uruguay.

Academic and research

Apart from his main coaching and performance positions, Owen held a coaching science consultancy role with Portuguese club Benfica as a 'Football Scientist' within the famed BenficaLAB generating significant amounts of 'football research within the club'. He has amassed over 70+ scientific publications and book chapters in the area of 'Sport and Football Science'. Owen is author of the best seller 'Football Conditioning: A Modern Scientific Approach' coaching science book.[6]

Owen also holds an associate researcher role with Lyon.1 University in France, and is a High-Performance Coach Educator for the England Football Association and the Finland Football Association.

Honours

Coaching

Club
Rangers
Servette

International
Wales
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References
  1. "EAST STIRLINGSHIRE : 1948/49 & 1955/56 - 2013/14". Post War English & Scottish Football League A - Z Player's Transfer Database. Neil Brown. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  2. "Smith hoping fitness guru Owen can give Rangers squad pre-season boost". Mail Online. DMG Media. 8 July 2018.
  3. "Weir recruits assistant". Sheffield United FC. 21 June 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  4. "Wales - A.Owen". Soccerway. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
  5. "Adam Owen: Wales fitness coach on eight months as a Polish top-flight boss". BBC Sport. 21 March 2018.
  6. "Football Conditioning: A Modern Scientific Approach - Periodization - Seasonal Training - Small Sided Games". SoccerTutor.com.
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