How to become a grassroots football coach
You do not need to buy a coaching qualification before you speak to a club. What you need before you work with a youth team depends on the role you take.
Youth coaches have to be named against their team, DBS-checked and safeguarding-trained. If the club is England Football Accredited, each youth team also needs at least one coach or manager who meets the accreditation coaching, first aid and safeguarding criteria. So the order matters, and it is not the order a course catalogue implies.
This page is written for England. Coaching qualifications and criminal record checks are organised separately in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and there is a signpost at the end.
Course names on the England Football Learning pathway have changed, and older guides still use the previous ones. Check the current course list on England Football Learning (opens in a new tab) rather than relying on a name you have seen elsewhere, including here.
The rules on criminal record checks for people working with children also changed on 1 September 2026, and some FA guidance pages still use the earlier wording. The section on checks below explains what changed.
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Start with a club, not a course
The useful first step is a conversation, not a booking. Speak to a club near you, or to your County FA, so you know what role it needs you to fill before you choose a course. If there is no club to join and you are thinking of starting one, our guide to starting a grassroots football club covers that.
You can help a team before you become a coach, but helping is not one thing. The FA's role guidance (opens in a new tab) lists genuinely non-coaching jobs such as a parent running the line as not eligible for an FA DBS check in that role. Coaching is different, but the current statutory test is the activity you actually carry out and how often you do it, not whether "assistant" appears in the title. If your help involves teaching, training or instructing children, supervision by a head coach no longer takes qualifying activity outside regulated activity where the frequency conditions are met. Ask the club to define your role clearly rather than treating helping out, assistant coaching and coaching as the same thing.
What the club must have in place before you are cleared to coach
There are two separate questions here, 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 require an in-date, accepted DBS and the Safeguarding Children Course. The DBS application is handled through the club process.
The FA also 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. Use that FA page for the football process, not as the statutory eligibility test.
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 (opens in a new tab), and it does not itself create a universal requirement for a check.
If you intend to coach independently and charge for it, the position is different again. Government guidance (opens in a new tab) explains how eligible self-employed people can obtain the appropriate criminal record check themselves through an umbrella body. Our guide to setting up as a self-employed coach covers the wider checks, insurance and business side.
A County FA can explain its own football process and what an affiliated club needs to do. It does not decide statutory DBS eligibility.
- The check is arranged through the club rather than by you. Club welfare officers can track DBS checks and safeguarding training for club members through the FA Club Portal, so the welfare officer is the person to ask about where yours has got to.
Safeguarding training goes alongside it. The Safeguarding Children Course is the current course for coaches working with children. The qualification is valid for two years, and England Football Learning currently says you renew it by retaking the Safeguarding Children Course, with the recertification provided free. It is not a once-and-done qualification. Our safeguarding guide covers what the training is for.
One thing worth knowing if you already hold a DBS certificate from work. It is not automatically an FA-accepted disclosure for a football role, so start the conversation with your club welfare officer rather than assuming what you have will carry across. The same distinction matters the other way round for a coach working privately, which our guide to private football coaching for children covers.
If you are renewing rather than starting, the FA says you can continue working with children and young people once the renewal has been submitted and shows as in progress on the FA Club Portal.
The FA also publishes safer recruitment guidance for grassroots clubs, setting out eight steps a club should follow when it takes somebody on, from a role profile through references and the DBS check to supporting you into the role. If your club works through that with you, that is what is supposed to happen.
The qualifications, and which ones depend on each other
England Football Learning (opens in a new tab) runs the courses. 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.
- EE Playmaker by England Football. The free online entry-level course (opens in a new tab), open from age 14. If you are 14 or 15 you need a parent or guardian to link your account to theirs. It is a course in its own right: England Football Learning says it prepares you to help a named coach or a Lead Playmaker, but that you cannot lead football sessions yourself. You do not have to complete it before moving to the coaching qualification.
- Safeguarding Children and an FA medical qualification. These are the two prerequisites. England Football Learning lists an in-date Safeguarding Children qualification and an FA medical qualification, such as Introduction to First Aid in Football or higher, as qualifications you must hold before you can enrol on Introduction to Coaching Football.
- Introduction to Coaching Football. The first coaching qualification (opens in a new tab) on the current England Football pathway, delivered online, minimum age 16. If you are 16 or over and hold both prerequisites, you can go straight to it. For 2026/27, England Football Learning offers funded-place programmes for this course, and the current offers also include access to the two prerequisite courses.
- UEFA C Diploma. The next formal coaching qualification (opens in a new tab) after Introduction to Coaching Football, for coaches who are ready for it and meet its additional prerequisites. It is delivered as a blend of virtual and face-to-face learning with FA coach developers.
- UEFA B, UEFA A and UEFA Pro Diplomas. More advanced qualifications with their own role and experience requirements. Worth knowing they exist. Not worth planning around in your first season with an Under 9s side.
Two courses on the England Football Learning list are specialist rather than steps on this pathway. The Advanced Youth Award is described as being for coaches working within the Elite Player Performance Plan with youth players in boys' academy football. The UEFA B Fitness Diploma is a specialist fitness qualification aimed at high-performance environments, currently in a pilot phase.
You will still see Level 1 and Level 2 in older articles, in club adverts and in conversation. Those names are not on the current England Football Learning course list. If somebody tells you to get your Level 1, check what the current equivalent is before you pay for anything.
The other courses you will come across
England Football Learning runs several streams beyond the coaching badges, and a grassroots coach meets more than one of them.
- Medical (opens in a new tab), including Introduction to First Aid in Football and Emergency First Aid in Football, plus courses on concussion guidelines, sudden cardiac arrest and the medical emergency action plan.
- Safeguarding (opens in a new tab), including Safeguarding For All, the Safeguarding Children Course, the Welfare Officers Course and Safeguarding for Committee Members.
- Goalkeeping, futsal, disability football, physical education, refereeing and talent identification, each with their own courses.
First aid is worth understanding properly rather than treating as an extra. It is a prerequisite for Introduction to Coaching Football, and for an England Football Accredited club each youth team needs at least one coach or manager holding the required coaching, first aid and safeguarding qualifications. Ask your club how it currently covers that for your team.
What it costs
We do not publish course prices, because they change and the funding available changes with them. Two things are worth knowing.
- EE Playmaker is described by England Football Learning as free.
- For 2026/27, England Football Learning offers funded-place programmes for Introduction to Coaching Football, and the current offers also include the Safeguarding Children and Introduction to First Aid in Football prerequisites. Coaches are eligible for one of the programmes per season, applications go through an eligibility form, and funding is limited and subject to availability.
Before you book anything, ask your club and your County FA what support exists. Clubs and leagues may cover course and check costs for volunteers, and it is a short conversation.
Your first season
- Start as an assistant if you can. Running a session on your own in week one is not the only way in.
- Watch other coaches at your club before you plan anything.
- Use the session plans and resources England Football Learning publishes rather than inventing everything.
- Agree with the club what you are responsible for and what you are not, particularly around communicating with parents and handling any concern about a child.
- Find out who your club welfare officer is on day one, not when you need them.
If the team you take on is short of players, our guide to recruiting players for a grassroots team covers what an advert can and cannot say.
Elsewhere in the UK
Coaching qualifications and criminal record checks are organised separately in each nation, so start with the association that covers you.
Find a club near you
Browse the clubs we list by location and age group, and contact them directly to ask whether they need coaches or helpers.
Common questions
Do I need a coaching qualification to coach a youth team?
It depends on the role, and helping and leading are different things. EE Playmaker prepares you to support sessions and does not by itself qualify you to lead them. Introduction to Coaching Football is the first coaching qualification on the pathway, from age 16. At an England Football Accredited club, each youth team needs at least one coach or manager holding Introduction to Coaching Football, an in-date Introduction to First Aid in Football qualification and an in-date Safeguarding Children qualification. If a club is asking you to take a lead role, ask what role it is appointing you to and what qualifications, safeguarding and checks that role requires, because there is more than one route and they are not the same.
How long does the DBS check last?
The FA requires an FA-accepted, in-date disclosure issued within the last three years, and it is the club's and league's job to make sure everyone who needs one has one.
I already have a DBS check from work. Can I use it?
Not automatically. It has to be an FA-accepted disclosure for the right workforce. Speak to your club welfare officer before assuming it carries across.
Do I have to have played football?
No. EE Playmaker states that you do not need previous football experience or qualifications to enrol, and the entry-level pathway is designed for people getting involved for the first time.
Can I coach my own child's team?
Yes. The same checks and training apply to you as to anybody else, and it is worth agreeing early with the club how you will handle selection decisions involving your own child.
What if I can only commit to some weeks?
Say so at the start. A club that knows what it is getting can plan around it. A club that finds out in October cannot.