Eric Ramsay (born 2 August 1991) is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Co ...

and former player. Born in England, he was briefly the captain for the Welsh national futsal team. After a short period playing football in the Cymru Premier, Ramsay began his career as a youth coach at

Swansea City Swansea City Association Football Club (; cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Cymdeithas Dinas Abertawe) is a professional football club based in Swansea, Wales that plays in the Championship, the second tier of English football. Swansea have played their ho ...

before moving to Shrewsbury Town's academy in 2017. He worked at Chelsea's academy for two years and, aged 29, became an assistant first-team coach at

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

in 2021. He also had a brief coaching spell with the Wales national football team in 2023. In February 2024, he became the head coach of MLS club Minnesota United.

Early life

Born in

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'Sh ...

, England, Ramsay grew up in Llanfyllin, Wales, and attended Llanfyllin High School. After leaving the youth academy at The New Saints, Ramsay made 14 appearances as a player in the Cymru Premier for

Welshpool Town Welshpool Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Y Trallwng) is a football team, based in Welshpool, playing in the Mid Wales Football League. The club was founded as Welshpool Football Club on 28 August 1877 following a meeting at the National Sc ...

, before deciding to attend university and focus on coaching. Ramsay was the captain of the

Wales national futsal team The Wales national futsal team is controlled by the Football Association of Wales, the governing body for futsal in Wales and represents the country in international futsal competitions, such as the FIFA Futsal World Cup, Futsal World Cup and the ...

for the

UEFA Futsal Euro 2014 qualifying The UEFA Futsal Euro 2014 qualifying competition consisted of a preliminary round, a main round, a play-off round and a twelve-team final tournament played in Belgium. In the preliminary round, four groups of four teams each and two of three were ...

campaign, a sport he played throughout his time at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

Career

Early career

In 2013, Ramsay graduated from

with a first-class honours degree in Sport Science with Management. At Loughborough, Ramsay worked as an assistant coach alongside Kieran McKenna at the university's football team. After graduating, Ramsay spent nearly four years as a Lead Professional Development Phase Coach at Premier League club

, coaching the club's under-21s and under-18s. He became academy manager at Shrewsbury Town in 2017, and subsequently worked with the club's first-team as interim manager then first-team coach. Ramsay joined Chelsea in 2019, where he coached the club's under-23s, and became the youngest British coach to achieve the UEFA Pro Licence.

Manchester United and Wales

In 2021, Ramsay joined

as a player development and set-piece coach under manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. In the following years, he became a more integral part of the club's coaching set-up, working under managers Ralf Rangnick and Erik ten Hag, winning the

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

and reaching the FA Cup final with the latter in 2023. At United, Ramsay helped integrate foreign players such as Casemiro into the club, due to his ability to speak fluent Spanish and

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

. Alongside his duties at Manchester United, Ramsay joined the Wales national football team as an assistant coach in March 2023. On Ramsay's announcement, the Wales manager Rob Page said: "Eric is arguably one of the best young coaches in football at this moment in time". Six months later, he left his position at Wales to focus on Manchester United and his young family.

Minnesota United

On 22 February 2024, Ramsay was hired as the head coach of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

club Minnesota United shortly after the start of the regular season. He is the youngest permanent head coach in MLS history and signed a multi-year contract with the club. Ramsay's debut as head coach of Minnesota United saw a 2-0 home win vs LAFC on March 16th, 2024. Minnesota United made the club's best start to a

season in history under Ramsay, with the club topping the Western Conference after twelve games with 24 points.

Managerial statistics

References

External links

Eric Ramsay
at The Coaches' Voice {{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsay, Eric Living people Minnesota United FC head coaches Swansea City A.F.C. non-playing staff Shrewsbury Town F.C. non-playing staff Chelsea F.C. non-playing staff Manchester United F.C. non-playing staff Year of birth missing (living people)