UPSSSC Sports Directorate Recruitment 2026: 108 Coach, Lifeguard and Other Posts

Lifeguard and Groundsman posts in the Uttar Pradesh Sports Directorate need only a High School (Class 10) pass and field experience. The coach and officer posts need a degree and a coaching diploma. All 108 posts come under UPSSSC Sports Directorate Recruitment 2026, Advertisement No. 22-Exam/2026 of the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission. The split is 50 Up Kridadhikari (deputy sports officer), 37 Assistant Coach posts in 12 sports, 18 Lifeguard and 3 Groundsman. You need a PET-2025 (Preliminary Eligibility Test) score card to apply. Registration and fee payment are allowed from 14 October to 4 November 2026.

25 of the 37 Sports Directorate coach posts are for Swimming

Every post is in the Khel Nideshalay (Sports Directorate), Uttar Pradesh. Pay Level is the level in the pay matrix that fixes the basic pay range; the ranges are in the last section.

UR stands for unreserved, SC and ST for Scheduled Castes and Tribes, OBC for Other Backward Classes and EWS for Economically Weaker Sections. The notice prints no total row, so the bottom line above adds up its rows. Cricket, Football, Shooting, Weightlifting, Fencing, Wrestling, Table Tennis, Handball, Wushu and Lawn Tennis have one coach post each. Swimming alone has 25.

Rows tagged “special selection” (vishesh chayan) carry seats for SC, ST and OBC only, with a dash under UR and EWS. Beyond that, the advertisement gives no definition of the term. It also tags each row as permanent or temporary. The 12 coach posts outside Swimming are permanent. The two Swimming rows and the special selection rows for Up Kridadhikari and Lifeguard are temporary. The two Groundsman rows and the regular Up Kridadhikari and Lifeguard rows carry both labels.

Inside these totals, women get 16 seats: 9 among the Up Kridadhikari rows, 4 in Swimming coach and 3 in Lifeguard. Ex-servicemen get 3 (2 Up Kridadhikari, 1 Swimming coach). One Up Kridadhikari seat goes to a low-vision candidate. Dependants of freedom fighters and outstanding sportspersons get none. UPSSSC warns that the count can still change.

UPSSSC coach and Up Kridadhikari posts need an NIS, LNIPE or equivalent sport diploma

For the officer and coach posts, the notice asks for three things together:

1. Graduation from a recognised university.
2. A coaching diploma in the relevant sport. It must come from the National Institute of Sports (NIS) at Patiala, Bangalore or Kolkata. LNIPE (Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education) at Trivandrum or Gwalior also counts, as does an equivalent institute recognised by the Government of India.
3. Two years of coaching experience.

So the swimming posts need a swimming diploma and the hockey posts a hockey one. For Up Kridadhikari, which is not tied to one game, the notice does not say which sport counts as relevant. The qualification clause points to two equivalence letters from UP’s Director of Sports, dated 14 July 2025. They are printed as Annexure 1 (Up Kridadhikari) and Annexure 2 (Assistant Coach) on pages 38 and 39. These letters add the National Sports University, Imphal, to the listed institutes. Preference goes to candidates who have organised sports events for a year or hold a physical education diploma or certificate. Two years in the Territorial Army or a National Cadet Corps (NCC) ‘B’ certificate also earns preference.

Advt 22 Lifeguards need three years of lifeguard work; Groundsmen need ground-marking skills

A Groundsman needs a High School pass from the UP Board or an equivalent board. The notice also wants hands-on experience of preparing and marking grounds and courts for indoor and outdoor games. It also asks for knowledge of grass types, rose and plant grafting, and flower and seed varieties. Two years as a groundsman, two years in the Territorial Army or an NCC ‘B’ certificate earns preference.

A Lifeguard needs a High School pass and at least three years of practical lifeguard work. Territorial Army service of two years or an NCC ‘B’ certificate earns preference. No height, chest or swimming test appears anywhere in the notice. Whatever your post, the qualification and certificates must be in hand by 4 November 2026.

Caste, name and date of birth cannot be edited in the Advt 22 form

UPSSSC builds this form from your PET-2025 record. Sign in at upsssc.gov.in using the PET-2025 registration number plus a one-time password (OTP) sent to the mobile number or email on that record. Your personal details, photo and signature arrive already filled in. Photo and signature are locked, the notice says. Then:

• tick each post you want, since an unticked post cannot be claimed later;
• enter board, year, roll number and marks for your qualifications;
• pay; the form submits itself once the payment clears, and you should keep a printout for document verification.

The “Modify Application” button stays open up to 11 November 2026. It opens only after final submission. It lets you change the correspondence address, EWS and horizontal categories (freedom fighter’s dependant, PwD, ex-servicemen, gender, sportsperson), essential and preferred qualification details, and marital status. PwD candidates must also update their disability category and subcategory. Caste category, name and date of birth are not on that list. You rank your preferred posts only at document verification. If you file more than once, only your last submission counts.

Fixing a ‘Pending’ Rs 25 payment, and the UPSSSC mains fee that comes later

At this stage nobody pays an application fee. The only charge is a Rs 25 online processing fee, listed for UR, OBC, SC and ST; the fee table has no EWS line. Women, ex-servicemen, persons with disabilities (PwD), freedom fighters’ dependants and sportspersons follow their main category. Payment works through a card, net banking, UPI or an SBI e-challan. A payment stuck on “Pending” can be fixed with the “Update Your Transaction ID by Double Verification” option.

The mains has its own exam fee. It is due from shortlisted candidates alone, before they download the admit card. Its amount is not in the advertisement. After 4 November 2026 no form or fee is accepted. The following week, up to 11 November, exists only to let the bank match payments already made and to allow corrections. Your form cannot be printed until the bank confirms the fee.

UPSSSC Sports Directorate Recruitment 2026 age rules: two clocks for officers and ground staff

For Up Kridadhikari and the coach posts, the band is 21 to 40 years. It is measured on 1 July of the calendar year in which UPSSSC advertises the vacancies. For Groundsman and Lifeguard, the band is 18 to 40. That rule depends on the month of the advertisement: 1 January for January to June, and 1 July for July to December. Advt 22-Exam/2026 carries the date 30 September 2026, yet it never prints the cut-off date in words. Applicants near a limit should watch the UPSSSC notifications list for any clarification before paying.

Paragraph 11.10 gives UP government employees 5 extra years. The officer and coach age rules instead add years equal to a person’s government service. The notice does not say which of the two applies. The Groundsman and Lifeguard rules have no service clause, so for them only the 5 years of paragraph 11.10 is printed. SC, ST and other notified groups get whatever relaxation the government sets; no figure is printed. Mukhyamantri Fellowship researchers get a relaxation and a preference. Anyone in more than one group gets just the single best relaxation. Only the High School (or equivalent) certificate counts as proof of date of birth.

15 PET-2025 scorers called per vacancy, ties included

The mains call list comes from PET-2025 normalised scores. UPSSSC calls 15 candidates per vacancy in each category. Anyone tied with the last score, counted to two decimal places, is called too. An absolute or normalised score of zero or less rules you out.

If the mains itself is held over more than one shift or day, its scores will also be normalised, under UPSSSC’s notice of 22 May 2019. Some PET-2025 results carry the label “Under Investigation” or “Provisional”. Such candidates may still apply. Their shortlisting and selection then depend on what UPSSSC’s inquiry decides.

40 of the 100 Advt 22-Exam/2026 mains marks are on sports

Each question is worth 1 mark, and each wrong answer costs a quarter mark. The notice names the written exam as the basis of selection. It cites the 2017 rules that ended interviews and describes no skill or practical test.

The sports syllabus covers these areas:

• exercise physiology, sports psychology and training methods
• biomechanics, nutrition and yoga, and sports medicine
• sports administration, and tests and measurement
• digital tools, and the rules of games and federations

Hindi and English versions of the syllabus are both printed in the notice.

Basic pay of Rs 21,700 to Rs 1,12,400 across four Sports Directorate posts

Domicile matters for reservation: SC, ST, OBC and EWS seats go only to Uttar Pradesh domiciles, and applicants from other states compete as unreserved. Women claiming caste reservation must show a caste certificate issued from the father’s side. The EWS certificate has to be dated between 1 April and 4 November 2026 and based on 2025-26 income. Ex-servicemen must have retired by 4 November 2026. Those working in central or state government need a no objection certificate (NOC) from their employer.

• Up Kridadhikari: Level 6, basic Rs 35,400 to 1,12,400
• Assistant Coach: Level 5, basic Rs 29,200 to 92,300
• Groundsman: Level 4, basic Rs 25,500 to 81,100
• Lifeguard: Level 3, basic Rs 21,700 to 69,100

These basic pay ranges come from the notice. No UP DA (dearness allowance) order has been applied, so in-hand pay is not estimated.

Related pages: Uttar Pradesh government jobs, state commission recruitments, graduate jobs and 10th pass jobs. Another drive from the same commission that drew on PET-2025 scores was UPSSSC JE Agriculture 2026.

✍️ Published byLokesh Rathore

Lokesh Rathore is a content writer with over 4 years of experience covering Government Jobs, Sarkari Result, Admit Card and Sarkari Yojana. He turns complex official notifications into clear, accurate and easy-to-follow updates for job seekers across India - with every post cross-checked against official government sources.

View all posts by Lokesh Rathore ›