Finding goalkeeper coaching for your child in England

Start with the club

If your child plays for a club, ask the coach what the keepers do in training and whether anyone at the club works with them. England Football’s guidance on developing a skilful goalkeeper (opens in a new tab) tells coaches to plan goalkeepers into their practices rather than leave them facing shots for a whole session. Our guide for parents of young goalkeepers has questions to ask the club coach.

At an affiliated club, training is club activity, with the club’s safeguarding policy and welfare officer behind it. Paid sessions outside the club, even with the same coach, are a private arrangement, and that changes what you need to check. If your concern is about the club coach, see “If something concerns you” below rather than starting there.

Finding other options

If you want more than the club offers, these are ways to find options. They are starting points, not recommendations:

• ask the club coach, or other keepers’ parents, who they would suggest
• look for group goalkeeper sessions or holiday camps run by coaching businesses near you
• look for independent goalkeeper coaches who offer one-to-one or small-group sessions

For each option, find out:

• whether it is one-to-one, a small group or a camp
• which ages and stages it is for
• where and when it runs, and for how long
• who actually delivers the sessions, and whether that is the person you have spoken to

A website, a social media page or a listing tells you what a provider says about itself. It does not tell you whether the coach is qualified, checked or right for your child. That is what the rest of this page is for.

Goalkeeping qualifications in England

England Football Learning lists three goalkeeping courses (opens in a new tab). Each builds on general coaching qualifications. Here is what each one tells you, and what it does not.

National Goalkeeping Course (opens in a new tab). A one-day course on designing and delivering goalkeeping practices, including the growth and maturation challenges young keepers face. To start it today, a coach needs the UEFA C Diploma or The FA Level 2 in Coaching Football, a current first aid course, and The FA’s safeguarding children course within the last three years. Completing it shows the coach has undertaken goalkeeper-specific training. It does not establish whether their safeguarding or first aid training is still current, and it is not a UEFA licence.

UEFA Goalkeeping B Diploma (opens in a new tab). A 12-month course which England Football says suits coaches working, or aiming to work, as full-time goalkeeping coaches in the professional or semi-professional game. It needs the UEFA C Diploma and the National Goalkeeping Course first.

UEFA Goalkeeping A Diploma (opens in a new tab). For coaches working with senior professional goalkeepers, already in the professional game, with the UEFA B Diploma and the UEFA Goalkeeping B Diploma. It is aimed at elite adult football, so it is not a requirement for coaching children, and holding it does not make someone the right coach for your child.

A coach may also hold an older award. The FA says the National Goalkeeping Course replaced the FA Level 1 and Level 2 in Coaching Goalkeepers (opens in a new tab), which have been discontinued and are not equivalent to it. A coach from elsewhere may hold another association’s award, such as the Football Association of Wales’s FAW/UEFA Goalkeepers B Licence (opens in a new tab).

For independent private coaching, there is no single FA rule that a coach must hold an FA coaching qualification, or a goalkeeping one. Professional academies are different: the Premier League and EFL Youth Development Rules set requirements for their goalkeeping coaches. So ask exactly what the coach holds, who issued it and when.

The entry requirements above are today’s, and a coach who qualified earlier may have met different ones. Meeting them once is not evidence of a current first aid or safeguarding course, so ask about those separately. No qualification replaces the checks below, or your own sense of how the coach works with your child.

The checks before you book

Outside the club, these are the same checks as for any private coaching. Our guide to private football coaching for children explains each one in full, including what changed with criminal record checks in 2026. In short, ask:

• which level of DBS check the coach holds, and to see the original certificate rather than a copy, checking the name matches the person showing it. The certificate belongs to the coach and sharing it is their choice. Being DBS-checked is not one thing, and GOV.UK’s guidance for sport (opens in a new tab) sets out which level a coaching role can be eligible for
• which safeguarding training they have done and when, with the course name rather than just a yes
• whether they hold a current first aid qualification
• what insurance they carry, and to see it
• whether they also coach at an affiliated club, and which one
• whether other families can give a reference

A coach offering paid sessions should be able to answer these questions clearly. If an answer is vague, or you cannot verify it, do not fill in the gap yourself.

One-to-one and small-group sessions

These are our recommendations, not rules every private coach is bound by. They are the arrangements you would want with anybody:

• sessions in a public or overlooked space rather than somewhere closed off
• you know who else will be there, and you can stay and watch, for the first few sessions or until you are comfortable with the coach
• arrangements and messages go through you, not directly to your child
• you are told before a session moves venue or time, not after

Comparing goalkeeper sessions

These are our questions, not FA requirements, and the answers will differ between coaches. They help you compare like with like.

1. How many keepers are in a session, and what ages?
2. Is it suitable for a keeper who is new to goal, or nervous about it?
3. How is the time split between movement, handling, distribution and playing with the feet, and facing shots?
4. How do you adapt a session for different ages and stages? England Football’s National Goalkeeping Course includes the growth and maturation challenges keepers face.
5. What feedback will my child get that they can take back to the club? Talking to the club coach first helps the two pull in the same direction.
6. How do you talk to a keeper after a mistake? England Football’s guidance on coaching goalkeepers (opens in a new tab) tells coaches to praise a keeper’s intent over the execution.
7. If you also sell gloves or kit, is buying anything part of the sessions?

Safety questions

1. Where do the sessions take place, and what surface will my child be diving on?
2. How are the goals secured? The FA’s goalpost safety guidance (opens in a new tab) says goals must always be anchored securely or have a weighted back bar.
3. What happens if my child is coming back from a head injury? The FA’s concussion guidelines (opens in a new tab) say that at one stage of the return, goalkeeper activities should avoid diving and any risk of the head being hit by the ball. Our guide to concussion in grassroots football covers the full return.

If something concerns you

Where the coach is connected to an affiliated club or registered with a County FA, you can contact the club or league welfare officer, the County FA Designated Safeguarding Officer or the FA safeguarding team. Where the coach is entirely independent, those routes may not apply; if you are worried a child is at risk of abuse or neglect, you can contact the children’s social care team at the child’s local council. If a child is in immediate danger, call 999. You do not need to be certain before you raise something.

Our guides to private football coaching for children and safeguarding in grassroots football set out these routes in full, including the police and other organisations that can help.

Coaches listed on FindMeFootball

A listing is a coach telling you what they offer. It is not us checking their qualifications, their training or their criminal record check, and it is not a recommendation of one coach over another. The questions on this page are still yours to ask, and the answers are still the coach’s to give.