Steve Cooper · Biography

On 21 September 2021, Nottingham Forest appointed Steven Daniel Cooper as head coach with the club bottom of the Championship. Eight months later he led them to the Premier League. Cooper was born on 10 December 1979 in Pontypridd, Wales, and grew up in nearby Hopkinstown. His father, Keith Cooper, was a football referee. Before that move to the City Ground he had already won a world title with England’s under-17s and taken Swansea City to two promotion play-offs.

A defender in the Welsh game

Cooper was a defender. He was on Wrexham’s books from 1998 to 1999 without playing for the first team, then moved around the Welsh game: Total Network Solutions in 1999, Rhyl in 2000, Bangor City from 2000 to 2002 and Porthmadog in 2003. With Bangor City he played in the 2002 UEFA Cup against Sartid Smederevo. While he was still playing he began coaching at Wrexham’s academy, where he went on to become head of youth development. He completed his UEFA Pro Licence at the age of 27.

Liverpool’s academy

On 3 September 2008 Cooper joined Liverpool as a youth coach, starting with the under-12s. On 18 July 2011 he was named academy manager. His under-18 side reached the semi-finals of the FA Youth Cup in 2012-13, where they lost to Chelsea. Raheem Sterling, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ben Woodburn all came through the academy during his time there. In 2013 he left Merseyside to join the Football Association as a youth coach educator.

World champions with England’s under-17s

The FA made him England under-16 head coach on 13 October 2014, and in 2015 he moved up to the under-17s. At the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship his side drew 2-2 with Spain in the final and lost 4-1 on penalties. Months later, at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in India, they beat Brazil 3-1 in the semi-final and then beat Spain 5-2 in the final in October 2017 to become world under-17 champions. In 2018 England went out of the European championship in the semi-finals, losing to the Netherlands on penalties. In 2019 they did not get past the group stage.

Swansea City

Swansea appointed him head coach on 13 June 2019. His team picked up 16 points from their first six league games and went top of the Championship, and Cooper was named Championship Manager of the Month for August 2019. After football stopped for the pandemic, Swansea beat Reading 4-1 on the final day to take sixth place in 2019-20, then lost the play-off semi-final 3-2 on aggregate to Brentford. In 2020-21 they finished fourth and met Brentford again, this time in the play-off final on 29 May 2021, losing 2-0 at Wembley. He also won Manager of the Month for January 2021. He left by mutual consent in July 2021.

Promotion with Nottingham Forest

He took over at Forest after a poor start to the season and lifted them from the foot of the table into the play-off places. He was Manager of the Month for April 2022. On 29 May 2022, Forest beat Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the play-off final at Wembley and won promotion to the Premier League for the first time since 1999. Back in the top flight, they confirmed their survival on 20 May 2023 by beating Arsenal 1-0 at the City Ground. The club dismissed him on 19 December 2023 after one win in 13 matches, with Forest 17th. Nuno Espírito Santo replaced him the next day.

Leicester City and Brøndby

Leicester City, newly promoted to the Premier League, appointed him on 20 June 2024. He was sacked on 24 November 2024, the day after a 2-1 home defeat to Chelsea. By then Leicester had won two of their first 12 league games and been knocked out of the League Cup by Manchester United. His record at the club was 15 matches, three wins, five draws and seven defeats. On 9 September 2025 he became head coach of Brøndby in the Danish Superliga, replacing Frederik Birk. Brøndby finished fourth in 2025-26, then lost 3-1 after extra time to FC Copenhagen and missed out on a place in Europe. The club released him on 22 May 2026, after 28 matches with ten wins, six draws and twelve defeats.