McDonald’s is dedicated to supporting coaches across the UK, helping them to develop the right practices and raise standards at grassroots level.

Since 2002, we’ve worked with The FA to train over 20,000 coaches across England, who in turn have provided over two million hours of free quality coaching to over one million young players.

High quality coaching is vital to the future of the game and we are committed to giving aspiring coaches the opportunity to make a career as a football coach and practice at the highest level. Eric Harrison, McDonald’s Head Coach has trained some of the Nation’s best football talents and he’s sharing some of his drills here every month so make sure you watch his master class to pick up some tips.

There are also opportunities for women and mums to get involved in football coaching through ‘Mums on the Ball’. Together with the mums of some of the UK’s top footballers, we’ve helped more than 500 women across the country to become qualified grassroots football coaches by providing them with a number of free Level One coaching places each year.

‘Mum on the Ball’ and PE teacher, Cindy Halliday, is a football coach at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire. She went on to achieve her Level Three coaching qualification and has recently been recognised as ‘Coach of the Year’ at the inaugural FA Community Awards.

As a qualified coach since 2001 Cindy originally got into coaching because of her football-mad son. When her son went to boarding school, Cindy continued to coach children in the local area and now helps to run an U6s and U7s boys teams, as well as U12s and U14s girls teams.

“My main aim was to coach a team in a way that avoided any negativity and to see the children really enjoying themselves. As a mum, I knew exactly how to build a rapport with the children and as a result we have lots of fun. I am absolutely delighted to be The FA and McDonald’s Coach of the Year – it proves that if you work hard, it really does pay off!”