As Coaches Partner to The FA, McDonald’s 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 shared some of his drills here so make sure you watch his master class to pick up some tips.

If you’re ready to take your coaching skills to the next level, we are also offering the opportunity to win one of hundreds of free places on FA Youth Module 1 coaching courses across England. Click here to find out how you can apply.

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. Together with the mums of some of the UK’s top footballers, our ‘Mums on the Ball’ campaign 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 wasrecognised as ‘Coach of the Year’ at the inaugural FA Community Awards in 2010.

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 was absolutely delighted to be The FA and McDonald’s Coach of the Year 2010 – it proves that if you work hard, it really does pay off!”