In the first 2025 edition of the Scottish FA's Spotlight series, we caught up with Head of Player Development at RB Leipzig, Cameron Campbell. 

He discussed his highlights from the UEFA Pro-Licence course, as well as his journey, which has taken him from Lossiemouth to Germany - via Denmark and Ghana.

The best decision I ever made was starting to coach as young as I did. While some of my fellow Pro-Licence candidates would go on to win major honours and represent their country, I accepted as 16-year-old at Elgin City that my passion and my skillset lay in coaching, rather than playing the game.

But everyone's journey is different and it's one of the aspects of the current course that I have found so enjoyable. 

We have current head coaches, we have former professional players who are transitioning into coaching, we have some youth coaches, like myself, we have women’s coaches and we have those who are working at a Technical Director's level. Everyone is different but there's always respect shown, whether someone is a former Scotland captain or a coach in the youth game.

My journey has followed a more unusual path than most, but I'm a firm believer in stepping out of your comfort zone and I love the saying 'You don't know what you don't know'. After four years coaching in the academy at Aberdeen, I decided to make the first step into the unknown by joining the 'Right to Dream' academy in Ghana. The academy, which has a link with FC Nordsjaelland in Denmark, has produced the likes of Mohammed Kudus, Simon Adingra and Mohamed Diomande. While working in Scotland and in Aberdeen, I was conscious that I was always working with players and coaches who have a similar background and I really wanted to see how different cultures brought football to life. Due to the regulations, the players could not leave before the age of 18, which gave us a bubble to work in and provided great developmental time with the players, so we could be sure that when they eventually made the move, they were ready to step into the first team environment.

It was also interesting to learn about different profiles of footballers. For example, in Ghana, they constantly produce players who are strong in 1v1 situations because they play a lot of street football in challenging conditions. In Scotland, a lot of the top players excel in releasing skills, like passing and shooting but we aren't as strong in 1v1s, so this is an area I've looked to put an increased onus on as part of players' development since I returned from Ghana.

Given FC Nordsjaelland's model is to play youth and develop players, it was a fantastic place to work and there’s not many clubs in the world where the first team manager is as bought in to the project as the Technical Director and Head of Academy. When they sell a player, they know that the next player is going to come from the academy and not from the outside world. That strategy really helps the motivation of not only the players, but all of the staff and you can constantly see the pathway when you’re on the training pitch.

After 'Right to Dream', I had the chance to come back to Scotland with Rangers, working under Craig Mulholland in the academy. Learning different roles and responsibilities as Head Coach of the Under-18s was a great experience and I was fortunate to work with lots of talented Scottish and British players which was something I always wanted to do.

I then got an invite to become the Head of Player Development at RB Leipzig. It was a chance to once again experience a different culture and a different league but more importantly it was an opportunity to work for a club that is best-in-class in terms of a finishing school. When we look at that transition stage, Leipzig are up their with the top teams in Europe and I knew I would only learn here. My role currently as Head of Player Development sees me work with players in the academy but also as a part of players' integration into the first team environment. 

We have seen more and more Scottish players going abroad in recent years and I think we are beginning to see this with coaches too. Obviously everyone's situation is different, but I'm happy to be an advocate for stepping out of your comfort zone. Having now experienced Scotland, Denmark, Ghana and Germany, I've heard so many different viewpoints especially when they challenge you, as it often strengthens your own beliefs, making you stronger in your convictions. 

There are also challenges as well though and naturally the language barrier in particular has been something to get used to. I am really fortunate that the people at the club involve me as much as possible and we have a lot of international players which helps. When I’m coaching, at times it can be a combination of my broken German and players' broken English. From a personal viewpoint, it can be frustrating when you’re in a group setting or a meeting and it’s something I’m conscious of and I want to continue developing my language skills so I can contribute more in all those moments to add as much value as possible.

On the Pro-Licence, Stevie Grieve is currently coaching in Finland, while Paul Cowie has over a decade of experience in Singapore, so it's been interesting to compare different experiences working abroad.

It can also be difficult being away from family and the Pro-Licence trips have provided a welcome return to Scotland. Our most recent meet-up was around the League Cup Final, and the presentation from Alan Irvine was really interesting. He has so much experience at the top level, recently with the Scotland national team and now with Everton, and his numerous real life examples were relevant for all of us.

I was also recently in a group with David Gray, Steven Naismith and Ceri Bowley which was fascinating as we’ve all been working around first-team football fairly recently in different roles. It was interesting discussing different coaching staff set-ups, as well as contrasting how and when we deliver presentations to players, how we split the week between coaching out-of-possession and in-possession and how we structure group and individual meetings. They’re all really beneficial conversations because it doesn’t matter if you’re part of the team or if you’re the head coach, it’s how you utilise your staff to the best of your ability to maximise the players’ development and ultimately how they perform on the pitch.

I have always said that my ambition has been to work with players at the highest possible level, whether that’s at a top academy or whether that’s within a first team environment, and my experiences on the course are definitely helping me towards this. A phrase I like to use a lot is 'adding value' - by positively impacting players' training, development, and ultimately their careers and lives. You work with these players daily and there's nothing better than seeing them succeed. We’re in a really good place now at Leipzig. We have had the two youngest players play in the Bundesliga so far this season in Faik Sakar and Viggo Gebel and there are more to come. Being out on the training pitch with top players is 100 per cent the best part of the job. 

Football is so unpredictable and its often hard to know the next move but I'm thoroughly enjoying it in Germany and it's an exciting time with the arrival of Jurgen Klopp. As long as I stay true to that ambition of working with the best players as possible on the grass then I’ll be happy.