Former Donegal manager Jim McGuinness graduates with Uefa Pro Licence

Donegal’s 2012 All-Ireland winning manager Jim McGuinness was among the Uefa Pro Licence graduates in Dublin on Thursday.

The 20 latest graduates from the FAI Coach Education Department's Uefa Pro Licence course were presented with their certificate course Diploma at a graduation ceremony at the Dublin Airport Carlton Hotel attended by FAI President Gerry McAnaney, FAI Board member Packie Bonner, CEO Jonathan Hill and Director of Football Marc Canham. 

McGuinness managed Donegal for four seasons from 2011 to 2014. The Glenties native began working as a performance consultant with Celtic FC in 2012 and  worked at Beijing Sinbo Guoan, ending his time in China in January 2018.

After being head coach of Charlotte Independence, McGuinness returned home and was part of the back room team at Derry City U-19s, who won the Enda McGuill Cup in 2021.

Republic of Ireland Manager Stephen Kenny was guest of honour as the 20 coaches came to the end of their two-year course that covered all aspects of coaching at the highest level of the professional game. 

The 20 latest FAI graduates, who join over 9,000 other UEFA Pro Licence holders across the world, were originally due to complete their course in May of this year but COVID-19 delayed the completion of their programme with part of it held online due to the pandemic.

Over the duration of their course, the 20 coaches visited Málaga CF in Spain and Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium while expert speakers to make presentations to their group included Sir Alex Ferguson, Howard Wilkinson and Roberto Martinez.

“To see our total number of UEFA Pro Licence coaches pass the 100 mark is a really significant day for our Coach Education Department and I want to congratulate all the staff involved in reaching this milestone and, of course, all the graduates who have now joined the ranks of the highest qualified coaches in world football,” said FAI Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Hill.  

“They have reached the pinnacle of professional football in terms of their coaching qualifications and we look forward to following their careers with great interest and pride.”

John O’Shea, Dan Connor, Carlo Cudicini, Ian Morris, Matthew Ross, Ian Ryan, Sean O’Shea, Alan Murphy, Aidan Price, Daire Doyle, Tom Elmes, Ruaidhri Higgins, John Russell, Graham Kelly, Kevin Doherty, Anthony Hayes, Denis Hyland, Tim Clancy and James Scott also graduated.