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.
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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. The FA lists some non-coaching roles as not eligible for an FA DBS check in that role, including a parent helper who is not coaching and a parent running the line. But once you are coaching, the coaching role sits on the FA's DBS-required side, and the FA is explicit that this includes coaches with assistant in the title. Ask the club to define your role clearly, rather than treating helping out and assistant coaching as the same thing.
What the club must have in place before you are cleared to coach
This is the part that decides when you are cleared to coach, and it is a club responsibility rather than a personal errand. The FA's wording is precise: clubs must ensure newly appointed individuals hold an FA-accepted DBS before working unsupervised with children and young people. Ask your club what it will and will not have you doing while your check is going through, rather than assuming either that you can start straight away or that nothing can happen at all.
The FA states (opens in a new tab) that anyone aged 16 or over who undertakes any potentially unsupervised role working directly with children and young people under 18 must have an enhanced DBS check with a children's barred list check. Its eligibility guidance (opens in a new tab) puts every football coach working with under-18 players on the eligible side, whether or not they have assistant in the title.
- You have to be named against the team you coach, so the club records who is responsible for which side.
- It has to be an FA-accepted, in-date disclosure issued within the last three years, and the FA puts the responsibility for making sure of that on leagues and clubs.
- 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 first steps, in the order they actually happen
England Football Learning (opens in a new tab) runs the courses, and the sequence surprises people, because safeguarding and first aid come before the coaching qualification rather than after it.
- 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 an entry-level supporting course: England Football Learning says it equips you to help a named coach or a Lead Playmaker, but that you cannot lead football sessions yourself. There is no requirement to move onto the coaching pathway afterwards.
- Safeguarding Children and an FA medical qualification. These are not optional extras taken later. 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 prerequisites 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, and the two prerequisites above have to be in date. For 2026/27, England Football Learning offers funded-place programmes for this course, and the current offers also include the two prerequisite courses.
- UEFA C Diploma. A later step rather than the next one, delivered as a blend of virtual and face-to-face learning with FA coach developers. It carries its own prerequisites, currently including Introduction to Coaching Football or the old FA Level 1, in-date first aid and safeguarding, and active coaching.
- UEFA B, UEFA A and UEFA Pro Diplomas. Increasingly 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 rungs on this ladder. 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. For an adult coaching under-18s the FA's DBS and safeguarding requirements apply, and the DBS age threshold is 16, so a younger Playmaker can support a named coach but cannot lead sessions themselves. Beyond that, an EE Playmaker can support a named coach but cannot lead sessions alone, and an England Football Accredited club needs at least one coach or manager per youth team holding Introduction to Coaching Football, an in-date Introduction to First Aid in Football and Safeguarding Children. Ask your club which of those you are being asked to be.
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, because they deal with this regularly.
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.