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Football coaching in Kent

This page is for people who want to coach in Kent. If you are looking for coaching for your child instead, our guide to private football coaching for children covers what to check, and you can browse coaches or find a club in Kent directly.

The thing worth understanding first is what is national and what is local, because it decides who you talk to.

Course names, prices and requirements have changed more than once in recent years, and some County FA pages still carry older versions. Take course detail from England Football Learning rather than from a news article, including this one.

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A whistle, a clipboard, a stopwatch and orange cones on a white touchline bench with a mesh bag of footballs beside it, a portable goal behind, and a line of oast houses among apple trees in the distance.

National courses, local support

Coaching qualifications are no longer allocated by County FAs. They are run centrally by England Football, and you book them yourself through England Football Learning (opens in a new tab). Kent FA does not decide whether you get on a course.

What Kent FA does is everything around the qualification. Its coaches section (opens in a new tab) describes continuing professional development events across the county, in-situ mentoring, a Coaches Club, a Club Coach Mentor Programme and goalkeeper coach mentoring. Its get into coaching page (opens in a new tab) is the starting point if you have not begun, and the CPD listings (opens in a new tab) show what is running locally.

So the badge comes from England Football and the help with actually coaching comes from Kent FA. Worth knowing which one you are after, because they are booked in different places and go under different names.

The qualifications, and what you actually need first

One thing to clear up before anything else: there is no single ladder you have to climb in order. What there is, is a first coaching qualification with two prerequisites attached. EE Playmaker is useful, but it is not a prerequisite for Introduction to Coaching Football.

The UEFA C Diploma is the next formal coaching qualification after Introduction to Coaching Football, for coaches who are ready for it and meet its additional prerequisites.

Our guide to becoming a grassroots football coach covers the whole sequence, including what a club has to have in place before you can take a session.

Checks and safeguarding

They are separate questions, and they are easy to blur.

If you are going to be a named manager or coach of a youth team at an affiliated club, the FA's 2026/27 affiliation requirements (opens in a new tab) apply: all named youth-team managers and coaches need an in-date, accepted DBS and the Safeguarding Children Course. The DBS application is handled through the club process, and the FA puts responsibility on clubs and leagues (opens in a new tab) to ensure that people who require a check hold an FA-accepted, in-date disclosure issued within the last three years.

What level of check a role can be eligible for is a separate statutory question. Current government guidance for sport (opens in a new tab) bases that on what the role involves and how often the activity happens. From 1 September 2026, the supervision exemption was removed from regulated activity with children (opens in a new tab), so supervision no longer keeps a role outside regulated activity where the activity and frequency conditions are met. The change does not mean every role involving children becomes regulated activity, and it does not itself create a new requirement for organisations to obtain DBS checks.

If you intend to coach independently and charge for it, the route can be different again. Our guide to setting up as a self-employed coach covers that position.

Kent FA can explain its own football process and what an affiliated club needs to do. It does not decide statutory DBS eligibility.

Which County FA covers you, which is not always Kent

Worth knowing if you are in the north-west of the county. Under the FA's rules on areas and overlapping of associations (opens in a new tab), the Kent County FA's area is the county of Kent, and that area is overlapped by the London Football Association, whose own area runs twelve miles from Charing Cross. A club whose ground falls inside that circle can sit in the area of both.

For a coach this decides which association your club is affiliated to, which county cup it plays in, and which development offer you are part of. The club will know. It is worth asking early rather than turning up to a Kent FA event as a London FA club.

Where to coach in Kent

There are more routes in than people expect, and they suit different amounts of time.

A club near you, perhaps your own child's team, starting as an assistant rather than running sessions. Browse clubs in Kent and contact them directly, and say what time you can actually give.

A club that needs a whole age group. Clubs sometimes have children on a waiting list and nobody to run the team, which is a bigger commitment and a faster route to running your own sessions.

Starting something. If there is no club where you live, our guide to starting a grassroots football club sets out what that involves.

Coaching independently. If you want to be paid for it, our guide to setting up as a self-employed coach covers the checks, insurance and business side, and you can list your coaching free on FindMeFootball.

Volunteering off the pitch. A club needs a welfare officer, a secretary and a treasurer as well as coaches. Our guide to the club welfare officer covers what that role involves.

What you are coaching

Formats changed at the start of the 2026/27 season and sit a year later through the pathway than they used to, so what an age group plays may not be what it played when you last watched. Our England age group rules guide sets out the current position, and it is worth reading before your first session rather than after it.

Find a club in Kent

Browse the clubs we list across Kent by age group and area, and contact them directly. If you are already coaching independently, listing your coaching is free.

Common questions

Do I need EE Playmaker before Introduction to Coaching Football?

No. EE Playmaker is an introduction in its own right and prepares you to support sessions rather than lead them. If you are 16 or over and hold an in-date Safeguarding Children qualification and an accepted FA medical qualification, you can enrol on Introduction to Coaching Football without completing Playmaker first.

Does Kent FA run the coaching courses?

No. Qualifications are run centrally by England Football and you book them through England Football Learning. Kent FA runs the CPD, mentoring and support around them.

What does it cost?

We do not publish course prices, because they change and funding programmes come and go. Check the current price on the course page, and ask your club and Kent FA what support exists before you book anything, since clubs and leagues sometimes cover course and check costs for volunteers.

Do I need a qualification before I start?

Not to start helping. What decides when you can take a session is the club's position on checks and safeguarding training, which is a club responsibility rather than something you sort out alone.

I coached years ago. Are my qualifications still valid?

Check rather than assume. Course names have changed, safeguarding qualifications expire and need retaking, and a criminal record check has to be in date and FA-accepted. Your club welfare officer or Kent FA can tell you where you stand.

Can my teenager coach?

EE Playmaker is open from 14 as a supporting course that does not permit leading sessions. Introduction to Coaching Football has a minimum age of 16, and a criminal record check cannot be requested for anybody under 16.