Arsenal are English Premier League champions and for manager Mikel Arteta it marks a significant milestone in a coaching journey that began at Dragon Park more than a decade ago.
Success for Arsenal and Arteta marks another first for the FAW coach education programme on the eve of the National Coaches Conference that takes place this weekend. Arteta is the first coach from the FAW system to win the Premier League and is now just one game away from adding the UEFA Champions League trophy to an already impressive record of achievement.
“What a journey it has been,” said FAW Chief Football Officer Dr. David Adams. “Mikel came to Wales to study for his UEFA B and A Licences as he transitioned from player to coach, before later joining our UEFA Pro Licence while working as assistant to Pep Guardiola at Manchester City.
“Since graduating, he has continued to invest his time in supporting the development of other coaches, regularly attending and speaking on our UEFA Pro Licence. We are incredibly proud that Mikel Arteta, now an English Premier League-winning coach, was educated by the FAW.”
Arteta, 44, took charge of his former club in December 2019 and delivered FA Cup success in his first season. However, the domestic dominance of Liverpool and Manchester City prevented him for ending Arsenal’s wait for the league title they last won under Arsène Wenger in 2004.
An intelligent player who always seemed destined to become a coach, Arteta joins a long list of successful Basque coaches that have influenced the modern game, with the foundations of his coaching career forged in Newport.
Arteta completed his coaching education with the FAW under former Technical Director Osian Roberts, helping to coach the Cymru U16 squad that included Ethan Ampadu at the time. Having gained the required qualifications, he joined Guardiola at Manchester City in 2016. A decade later he would deny his friend and mentor a seventh Premier League title.
Arteta is one of a number of high-profile names to have completed his coach education with the FAW. Thierry Henry, Yaya Touré, Patrick Vieira, Gaël Clichy, Nuri Sahin and Freddie Ljungberg, together with current Portugal head coach Roberto Martínez, are just a few of the star names that have passed through the doors of Dragon Park in recent years.
The impressive list of alumni, which also includes current Cymru head coaches Craig Bellamy and Rhian Wilkinson, goes on and on. “There’s a recognition on our side that when we bring people like that, it’s also about taking from them, and that helps us grows an association,” said Adams to BBC Sport Wales last year. “We learn new things, which we can apply to our programmes or our national teams, and that helps us grow as well.
“We created this environment in Wales where we didn’t impose a particular philosophy on people. We tried to get them to buy into the idea of there being a Welsh way here and a framework of player development and coaching education, and trying to give them our framework, but saying to them ‘you’ve got to find your own way, build your own values and your own philosophy’.”
Also celebrating success with Arteta this week is his assistant Albert Stuivenberg, the Dutch coach who assisted previous Cymru head coaches Ryan Giggs and Rob Page, joining the latter at the UEFA EURO finals in 2021 before linking up with Arteta at Arsenal on a full-time basis.
While the title celebrations will continue in North London for some time to come, the focus for Arteta and his squad will quickly turn to the UEFA Champions League final and the challenge of facing holders Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest later this month. Meanwhile, Arteta’s achievements will serve as inspiration for the next group of candidates starting their own coaching journey at Dragon Park.
