Steve Cooper (soccer player, 1979)

Steve Cooper (born December 10, 1979 ) is a Welsh football coach and former player.

Athletic career

Cooper started his career at AFC Wrexham , but could not assert himself there. After brief engagements at The New Saints FC and Rhyl FC , he joined Bangor City in 2000 . For the club he ran on in the League of Wales, at the same time he forced a coaching education. In 2002 he ended his active career and returned to the AFC Wrexham as a youth coach. In 2007 he finished his coaching education when he obtained the UEFA Pro license , at the age of 27 he was the youngest to achieve this degree.

After Cooper had worked in youth work at Liverpool FC between 2008 and 2013 , from 2011 as head of the youth academy, he moved to the Football Association in 2014 and took over the coaching position for England's U-16 national team . He later took over the U-17 selection , which he led until the final of the U-17 European Championship 2017 , which was lost to Spain . Players like Phil Foden , Callum Hudson-Odoi or Jadon Sancho were among the choices. At the U-17 European Championship in 2018 , he reached the semi-finals with the team around Bukayo Saka , Arvin Appiah , James Garner and Xavier Amaechi .

In the summer of 2019, Cooper took on his first adult engagement when he coached English second division club Swansea City as the successor to Graham Potter .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} [1]
2. ↑ [2]