How to Start Coaching Football
please just go do it already
Coaching football is one of the most fulfilling things I’ve ever done. Whether you’re looking to give back to your community, develop the next Stephen Ireland or win the illustrious CONCACAF Champions League, there is a level for everyone. I am always encouraging people to don the tracksuit and get on the grass.
Following my encouragement, I’m immediately asked: “How can I get into coaching?” After realizing how exhausting it is to repeat myself, I’ve decided to make a quick guide on how to begin. This guide will be tailored towards those looking to coach in more competitive and serious environments, or levels above recreational.
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Here’s what I’ll cover:
Who a coach is and the goals for the level you’re coaching at.
Where you should start.
When you should start.
What you can coach.
Why you should coach.
Who the coach is
The “who” is very important. Everyone has different goals. If you’re looking to coach your local U7 team, you’re probably not going to be explaining Juego de Posicion to them, among other buzzwords used in coaching and analysis circes. Similarly, you’re not going to be teaching your U18 academy side how to dribble through cones (or anyone, for that matter. Please do not teach dribbling by having players move through a line of cones).
If you are looking to coach a recreational group or kids, I would recommend getting in touch with your local club and asking how you can get involved. Grassroots clubs are always looking for volunteers and are more often than not keen to take on people who want to learn and help out. Volunteer coaches at grassroots clubs, especially those who work with young children, can really shape the way a player enjoys the beautiful game. It is your job to make sure that the players enjoy their time with you and help them fall in love with the game as much as the rest of us. Many coaches often turn their nose up when asked to coach children as many believe it to be beneath them. If you’re looking to give back to your community, you would be stepping up when no one else can.
If you want to go into coaching with the ambition of being in the same conversation of Guardiola, Herbert, Ferguson, Mourinho etc. then I would suggest getting in line. There is no shortage of coaches who want to coach at the elite level. However, if you are coaching at levels higher than grassroots, then your number one priority is making the players better. I believe that a coach should be looking to make their players better at every age, not just at the academy level or development phase, however that’s easier said than done when your job is on the line when you coach in results driven environments.
At the development focused level, every session is created with the intention of making players better. Seldom do clubs care about the results of a game or season when coaching at the elite level academies. They mostly care about the development of the players. For example, if you’re coaching a U18 team and lose most games in the season but 8 of your 24 players are asked to play for the senior team or at a professional level, that is a success in the eyes of the club (or should be).
Where to start
I should preface this part by saying: you do not need any sort of badges, licences or qualifications to start coaching. I think that these licenses have value, but I believe that you will learn more from being on the grass coaching than from an instructor. Additionally, these courses are much easier to succeed in if you have experience coaching. Just go start. After you get some experience, consider going for your licences. Believe it or not, but some Football Associations and Soccer Associations are worse than others. So take your time when it comes to doing your licensing. Do your research and speak to more experienced minds before investing time and money into licensing. To be clear, you do not need to have a UEFA Pro licence to coach your local U11 team.
Starting is genuinely as simple as emailing or calling the closest club to you. Even if you live in some frozen desolate wasteland like Canada I’m certain you can find a club somewhere that will take you. Ideally, you begin as an assistant coach at your local club. It could be at a grassroots, semi-pro or academy level environment. If you have absolutely zero experience, offer your assistance to whatever age group that will take you. It’s a good idea to offer your help and learn as much as you can from more experienced heads.
Going in blind as a Head Coach for a U16 team despite never playing at a decent level, coached before, or even run a session before, is a bad idea. I know it’s a bad idea because I did that.
As an assistant coach you’ll probably help with setting cones, cleaning up and keeping players on track with the session. However, as the assistant coach, you have the privilege of watching the Head Coach give the session. You may also be trusted to give your opinion too. Here is where you pay attention to the timing of coaching points, the flow of the session, and try to absorb all the information you can. Time spent on the grass is the most valuable time. No course or degree will ever match the value of time spent coaching.
In due time, the Head Coach will eventually trust you enough to ask about session plans, ideas, and your thoughts on how training can be conducted. This is an excellent point of development for a coach in my opinion, and one many skip (myself included. However I am working on changing that by moving into a more results driven environment as an assistant coach. More on that at a later time.) During this time of being an assistant coach, you can (hopefully) see different training ideas and philosophies used. This is where you begin to think about how you may organize your own sessions some day!
You should start coaching as a Head Coach in the the 5v5, 7v7 and then 9v9 age groups before jumping into 11v11. I recommend this because it's easier to develop your style of play with less players on the field in games and in the training sessions. 7v7 and 9v9 are excellent sized games for you to physically see if what you’ve trained is being done because there are more opportunities for you to see what you’ve trained.
For example, a 7v7 pitch is significantly smaller than an 11v11 pitch. There’s fewer players on the field so there’s less players to share the ball with. Player rotations, sequences, principles and themes naturally happen more often because of the smaller environment and fewer players. This is how you can see if what you’re training is resonating with the players. Don't believe me? 7v7 and 9v9 are used by senior level teams when they play practice games, with the 9v9 game the most popular from what I've seen.
In Canada, 5v5 is U8, 7v7 is U9-U10, 9v9 is U11-U12 and 11v11 is for U13+. I imagine most countries run similarly, however your age groups and game size may vary. I can already hear the collective groans from those reading this imagining that they’re the next revolutionary tactico. “I don’t want to babysit” or “I don’t work well with kids”.
Too bad. In my opinion, it is best to create your “philosophy” starting with teams that play in small sided games.
If you can find a U16 group that plays 7v7 or 9v9, then go for it. Keep in mind that the younger a player is the more clear and exponential their development is. A U10 player develops faster in six months than a 30 year old player because there’s less for a 30 year old player to learn compared to the U10 player. So if you want to see if your style of play works and can be trained, you can see that faster with youth players.
One underrated step many coaches forget to take or avoid is finding a good mentor. I coached for five years before I stumbled across my current mentor, my Technical Director at the club I coach with in Canada. He has, by far, made me a better coach. I am constantly learning new ideas and picking up new tricks from him; of which I will use and be grateful for the rest of my coaching experience. Finding high quality teachers is more important to your development than anything else.
When to Start
Yesterday. A phrase I tell my players when I want them to do ball actions faster is "the longer you wait, the worse it gets" because the longer they wait to make a decision, the closer the defending team can close them down, react etc. The relevance of this quote to you is that the longer you wait to get started, the more you'll regret not starting sooner as time passes you by and the pressures of life set in.
Like player development, the younger you start, the more of a chance you have to succeed. If you start coaching at 20, you can have 10 years of experience by the time you’re 30.
You’ll then be applying for the same roles as people your age but with more experience. Hopefully you develop as a coach in those 10 years. The younger you are, the less responsibility you have compared to older people. You likely won’t have children, a serious job with serious bills, among other things. Time is on your side, so take advantage of it. I started coaching at 18 and I’ll be 26 in March, 2024. I’m now comfortable with the thought of going for my UEFA B and ready to challenge myself to coach in a more results driven environment,
Having said all that, don't start coaching if you're not comfortable doing so. If you have a serious job, with serious bills, children, etc perhaps don't sacrifice all of that to coach. Part-time coaching roles are the norm which is a blessing and a curse. So the flexibility to coach with outside responsibilities can be there, however this is entirely dependent on your situation, so plan accordingly.
What you can coach
There’s something for everyone when it comes to coaching. If you like working with kids then the grassroots level and the younger age groups are for you. If you like working with teenagers I’m sorry for you, and that you would be more suited to the academy level. And finally, if you want to work in a results driven environment, coaching at the amateur, semi-pro, professional and collegiate levels are all viable pathways.
Having said all this, you need to put in the time and learn to coach. If you want to coach at Manchester City you will need some experience I'm afraid.
So, while you wait for that Manchester City level gig, you coach academy level age groups, amateur teams, etc, and work your way up the footballing ladder. In time, your work will speak for itself.
However, there's no telling how much time that will take because the competition for coaches is very, very high. If you'd like to skip the footballing ladder route, I suggest using nepotism.
I'm often asked "how good of a player do you need to be to coach?" My answer is: Not perfect, but please be able to demonstrate the fundamentals or basics of the game. Unless physically unable, you should be able to pass a ball. One of the most awestruck experiences of my coaching journey so far is during my UEFA C course where an ex-professional made a diagonal, 50m driven pass into my right foot while I was running into space. Right there I thought to myself "I can't do that". Since then, my tone has changed. I still can't do that, but now I think "I can't do that right now". There's nothing to say that I can't practice that myself and try it. My point with this is even if you lack professional playing ability, you can still coach football as long as you can admit to your own shortcomings and work around them. Your playing ability should not dictate what you can coach.
Why you should coach
I coach for fame and fortune, however you may be driven by the idea of "changing lives" and "improving players". With that said, there isn’t one answer to this. However you need to have a why. When you coach football, or any sport for that matter, you are put into a position of influence that can change a person’s life. This type of influence isn’t hyperbolic; whether you like it or not, you will be remembered. How you will be remembered is up to you.
Jokes aside, coaching for fame and fortune is a viable reason to coach, albeit stupid seeing as most coaches are broke. Nonetheless it is a reason. You need a reason so that your sessions, and therefore player development, are appropriate. You would not coach your U13 team the same way you would coach a team preparing for a Champions League final.
For example, I started working with younger players and have mostly worked with younger players for the majority of my coaching experience outside of my brief stint at a semi-professional level. The age groups I work with most are 9-11 and 15-17. These are not professional players, these are not Premier League level players. These are players who are not finished developing as far as I’m concerned.
So, I plan every session with the idea of maximizing player improvement. Touches, ball actions, certain types of movements, etc, regardless of results we see during games. We may lose 8-0 or win 4-0, it doesn’t matter, the training doesn’t change.
The focus is development, not results. At the moment, my why is doing everything I can to develop my players to the best of their abilities. Your why may be to coach your team to punish an upcoming opponent’s left sided centre-back, or how to press an attacking team playing from the back. Your why may be different, but you do need one.
Conclusion
This "quick guide" has turned into an essay. I’ve now given you the: Who, What, Where, When, Why and How to get into coaching football/soccer.
I’m hardly an expert on the subject, so your results may vary, unless you become wildly successful in which case I expect an invitation to join your coaching/analysis staff when you reach stardom.
Take care and good luck. I hope you fall in love with coaching as much as I have.
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