Your first Match Day Coach visit

Accept the visit, or add your match

Accept your County FA’s coaching visit from the dashboard. For a visit you organise yourself, add the match and choose Match Day Coach as your role. You can take notes and write your coaching report without your county being on Penalty. Your standalone report stays in your account.

Open Start coaching notes

On the match page or next-match card, choose Start coaching notes. Check the teams, kick-off, officials and kit colours before continuing. If you have already started, the action changes to Resume coaching notes. Make sure the match role is Match Day Coach if you cannot see the action.

Record the pre-match preparation

Open Before the match. Work through the pre-match administration items: tap to record Not seen yet, Done or To discuss, and add a typed or dictated example to the relevant item. Use N/A where appropriate. Agree what the referee wants to work on before kick-off.

Start at the whistle

Check the half length before kick-off. Start the clock at the referee’s whistle so each note has the right match minute. Use Half time at the interval, then start the second half. At the final whistle, choose Full time and confirm.

Capture one clear example at a time

Choose the team and shirt number, the pitch zone and + or − where relevant, then type what happened. Record the action and its effect: what the referee did, how the players responded and why it mattered. Goals and cards can sit on the same timeline.

Example: 23′ · Home 10 · Middle · + · Delayed the whistle, allowed the pass and brought play back when no advantage developed.

Hold, speak, release

In the iPhone or Android app, choose the note’s context first. Hold Hold to talk, speak your note, then release to save the transcription. Slide your finger off the button to cancel. On first use, allow microphone and speech recognition, then hold again to start your note.

Check the words afterwards, especially names and shirt numbers. Voice requires a supported phone with the on-device English (UK) speech model installed. If it is unavailable, type the note or use your keyboard’s microphone.

Keep your notes safe without signal

Notes save on this device first and sync when the connection returns. Watch the waiting-to-sync indicator and reconnect before switching devices. Open the match and check its setup while online before travelling. Offline note capture does not mean report submission works offline.

If a note has no transcription, open it after the match and type the missing words. Do not clear the app’s data or reinstall it while notes are waiting to sync.

Review the evidence and debrief

Open After the match. Read your notes, correct unclear wording and pick the examples that best explain the referee’s performance. Record the debrief if useful: this is an optional voice memo, started and stopped with a tap, rather than the live Hold to talk gesture. Let the referee know before recording the conversation.

Ask the referee what went well first. Use specific examples, then agree one practical focus for the next match.

Write the coaching report

Choose Write the coaching report. Work through the FA Level 6–5 coaching form and use its coaching ratings: Focus for Development, Expected, Performed Well or N/A, as appropriate. Refer to your notes as evidence. Coaching develops the referee; it does not calculate an observer mark.

Make the next step clear

Complete the strengths and development summary. Identify three strengths and one focus, using examples rather than general impressions. Say what the referee can try at the next match and how they will know it helped.

Review and finish online

Review the report and finish anything the checklist flags. On your own match, choose Review and mark ready: the report stays in your account and is not sent to your county. For a County FA visit, submit it for county approval; the referee receives their report after approval. Reconnect before either action: submission needs signal and is not queued. Your private match notes are not sent.