About Us
Robin Russell
Robin has over 40 years of experience in football development — he started his career as a qualified teacher and played semi-professional, before joining the English FA in 1978 as a Regional coach and then Assistant Director of coaching, Technical Coordinator and then Head of FA Learning
At the FA, Robin was responsible for a number of Innovative programmes launched by the English FA which included the following:
FA Funweeks
From launch in 1983 Funweeks were franchised out to Grassroots & Professional Clubs, County Football Associations, Local Authorities,Sports Centres and Private Entrepreneurs who met criteria provided by the Football Association. By the mid - 1990's Funweeks had become the largest sports holiday programme for children in England with more than 300,000 children attending each year
FA Coaching Centres
Launched in 1985 as weekly after school coaching sessions this FA franchised programme was delivered by Clubs, Sports Centres,Local Authorities,Private Entrepreneurs and Community Programmes who met FA criteria : numbers exceeded over 500,000 participants per year within 5 years
FA Soccer Star Technique Tests
From 1998 until 2008 this unique Educational Soccer Program has been used by over 20,000 coaches and teachers involving over over 2 million children. Test results fed into a computer at the FA to provide rankings
Over 100,000 copies of the Soccer Star book and 50,000 copies of the Video sold.
Translated to several languages including Mandarin
1995 FA Preliminary Soccer Star for Footballers with Disabilities and Learning Difficulties
(developed & improved very successfully over the years by Jeff Davis)
Mini- Soccer
Launched in 1992, more than 500,000 5-12 year olds currently play this form of football.
FA Curriculum Guide & FA Cross - Curricular Projects
Used by over 20,000 Schools
The FA Games Assistant Service for Schools
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FA Trained Coaches provided by local providers franchised by the FA
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Girls Football Development
Girls Football Development
From 1990 Robin was responsible for the creation of the FA's initial Girls Football Development Programme, the recruitment and management of the first staff appointed by the FA dedicated solely to Girls and Womens Football
Football in the Community Programmes
Robin was responsible for the creation of several Football in The Community Projects e.g. Portsmouth FC, Crystal Palace FA, Brighton and Hove Albion FC, Gillingham FC and then was the FA's representative on the Management Board of the very successful National Football in Community Programme as recorded in "Football In The Community: A Modern History"
Robin was responsible for the development, transition from FA Coaching Awards to introduction of UEFA Coaching Awards in 1996 and in 1997 initiated the The FA Coaches Association which became The FA Licensed Coaches Club and through the work of Jamie Houchen became the largest Football Coaches Association in the world
The FA Charter for Quality was developed by Howard Wilkinson (FA Technical Directors) and Robin Russell in 1997 which led to a number of innovations including The FA Charter Standard Programme ( by John Mcdermott ) The FA Women's Development Programme ( by Kelly Simmons ) The FA Child Protection Programme (by Tony Pickerin) , The English Youth Football Academy System ( with Dave Richardson ) and ( with Howard Wilkinson )the creation of the National Football Centre-St. George's Park
Robin also initiated the FA Level ONE Coaching Award in 2002 which was developed by Les Howie to involve over 30,000 students per year by 2005
FA Learning Limited
In the early 2000s, Robin was responsible for the creation of FA Learning Ltd—the home of all FA educational activities. As the company’s first CEO, Robin introduced the a number of initiatives including the development of 7 e-learning courses involving over 500,000 students within 5 years
Robin left full time employment at the FA in 2005 to become UEFA's first Football Development consultant, continue for a number of years as a consultant to the FA and start his own business in Football Development and online soccer education: Sports Path.
UEFA
A founder member of the UEFA Grassroots Panel in 1995 Robin helped develop the UEFA Grassroots Charter launched in 2002 , revised in 2008 and 2021 and as a UEFA Consultant since 2005 , Robin has personally visited and provided advice on the development of grassroots football to over 90% of UEFA's National Associations
Sports Path
Robin has also acted as a consultant on e-learning, coach education and football development projects with FIFA, CONCACAF, and several National Associations ( including Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Turkey, Cyprus ) and top clubs, including Southampton FC and Shakhtar Donetsk
With LMA Chairman, Howard Wilkinson, Robin created the LMA School of Football Management and developed several football management courses, including ‘Creating a culture of excellence' focusing on leadership for soccer coaches, and ‘Identifying potential talent’ helping football coaches identify young talent.
The most recent Sports Path online course aims to help startups innovate in the global grassroots football market.
Asian Football Confederation
From 2015 , Robin has been a Grassroots and Youth Football Development Consultant for the AFC and a member of the AFC Grassroots Panel contributing to the creation of the AFC Grassroots Charter (Video Interview here) and the AFC Elite Youth Scheme.
US Youth Soccer
In 2019 Robin was hired by US Youth Soccer to investigate means to increase the growth and retention of the number of registered youth players in the USA as part of the GRIP project. See here
Mahd Sports Academy, Saudi Arabia
In 2021 Robin was hired to draft a Needs Analysis for this Academy: the first in Saudi Arabia to include girls
Anglia Ruskin University,
Cambridge, England
Since 2015 Robin has lectured on ' Sports Development ' for the Football Coaching Bsc. Course
