McDonald's UK football coaching programme
McDonald's is committed to providing more opportunities for people to get into coaching, meaning high quality coaching is available to more people in communities across the UK. Already, with the help of over 20,000 coaches trained since 2002, we have provided over 2 million hours of free quality coaching to over 1 million young players across the UK.
Mums on the ball
Together with the mums of some of the UK's top footballers, we've helped more than 400 women and mums from across the UK to become qualified grassroots coaches.
All McDonald's-funded coaching course places are now fully booked for 2010. For more information on the programme, download our Mums on the Ball brochure.
Coaching achievements
- 18,000 new football coaches created in England
- 2,000 new football coaches created in Scotland
- 650 new football coaches created in Northen Ireland
- 500 new football coaches created in Wales
Coaches' stories
Ben Storey
Stevenage, Hertfordshire
Ben has wanted to be a coach for as long as he can remember. He entered a competition through a partnership between the local Stevenage McDonald's franchisee, Mike Ghazarin, and Stevenage Borough Football Club which gave football enthusiasts the chance to take part in a Level 1 McDonald's/FA coaching course. Ben had his certificate presented to him by McDonald's Head Coach, Eric Harrison (pictured) at Stevenage Borough FC's ground and now coaches Stevenage based Austin Arrowheads Under 9's. He has also coaches Academy players at Stevenage Borough Football Club.
Maureen McCullough
Portstewart, Northern Ireland
"The skills I learned from the coaching course have also come in very useful in teaching some of the other sports we carry out at school!"
Maureen began her coaching journey through McDonald's and The IFA's Mums on the Ball scheme in 2009. She applied as she wanted to help coach her son who is football mad and hasn't looked back since. As a teacher, Maureen always had opportunities to attend different courses, but the IFA and McDonald's Mums on the Ball course was one of the best she had participated in. She then entered her school's girls' football team into the B section of a local league and they ended up winning.
Abid Khan
Scunthorpe, North Lincolnshire
Abid says "To give youngsters within ethnic minorities the chance to play football in North Lincolnshire is my main goal. Hopefully I will be able to set up a team in the summer of 2010!"
Abid has been coaching since 1993 at St Lawrence Academy where he has helped run 5 a side matches for ethnic minorities in North Lincolnshire. He got a place on a Level 1 McDonald's/FA coaching course through a partnership between the local McDonald's franchisee, Bob Meadowcroft, and Scunthorpe United Football Club. Abid had his certificate presented to him by McDonald's Head Coach, Eric Harrison (pictured). Now armed with Level 1 coaching certificate, Abid wants to coach at SUFC in the community programme and is also hoping to set up his own Under-8s team at Bemsport Youth FC.
Joanne Leake
Birmingham
Joanne is a huge supporter of Mums on the Ball. She'd love to see more girls and women getting involved in football coaching.
Joanne Leake attended a McDonald's Mums on the Ball taster course with local franchisee Afia Sirkhot in 2008 and got inspired to take up coaching herself. She has recently completed her Level 1 coaching qualification, and is now a certified football coach. Using the confidence gained while taking her qualification, she has set up four girls' teams in her local area which she trains herself. These are the first girls' teams in the area, and she has had an extremely positive response from the local community.
Craig Glen
Glasgow, Scotland
"First and foremost, football has to be fun. Kids want to play football so we try and simplify the game so they can learn and grow in confidence."
Craig, who works in his local McDonald's restaurant in Hamilton, chose to get involved in coaching local youngsters because he wanted to help put something back into football in his community. He has been a Scottish FA/McDonald's Community Coach for three years, responsible for developing six and seven year old local footballers by working alongside other coaches in South Lanarkshire.
Ben says: "I would love to move on to take the Level 2 certificate and coach some of my youngsters all the way through to the adult game".