FORMER IRELAND INTERNATIONAL John O’Shea and ex-Chelsea goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini are among the 20 candidates to be approved for the latest Uefa Pro Licence Course to be run by the FAI.

The Pro Licence is the top coaching qualification in Europe, and candidates take the course over 18 months. It includes international club visits, a study visit to Uefa HQ, and individual club assessments.

O’Shea has already completed his B and A-Licence courses with the FAI, and will juggle his Pro Licence course with work as assistant to Irish U21s boss Jim Crawford and a first-team coach at Reading.

Cudicini, meanwhile, has also completed badges with the FAI and has previously served as goalkeeping coach with the Irish U21s.

Former Irish international Andy Keogh is also on the course, along with Dundalk coach Ruairdhi Higgins and a trio of League of Ireland managers: Shelbourne’s Ian Morris, Longford Town’s Daire Doyle, and Drogheda’s Tim Clancy.

Other names on the course include Irish women’s U17 Head Coach James Scott, Sean O’Shea, presently assistant coach at AIK Stockholm, and Matthew Ross, who is the assistant coach for the South Korea Women’s National Team, where he works alongside former Ireland manager Colin Bell.

The candidates will assemble for the first block of work in November of this year.

Damien Duff and Keith Andrews, both part of Stephen Kenny’s backroom team, are due to complete their Pro Licence courses later this year, along with former Irish assistant Robbie Keane, Irish U18s boss Andy Reid, Dundalk manager Vinny Perth, and Cork City boss Neale Fenn.

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The 2020/22 Uefa Pro Licence participants are: Tim Clancy, Dan Connor, Carlo Cudicini, Kevin Doherty, Daire Doyle, Tom Elmes, Anthony Hayes, Ruairdhi Higgins, Denis Hyland, Graham Kelly, Andy Keogh, Ian Morris, Alan Murphy, John O’Shea, Sean O’Shea, Aidan Price, Matthew Ross, John Russell, Ian Ryan, James Scott.

On Thursday, another Uefa Pro Licence holder, former Galway and Wexford manager Shane Keegan, launches a coaching podcast exclusively for members of The42. Each episode will feature an in-depth chat with a coach on their process and philosophy, and the first guest is the highly-respected and remarkably successful Gary Keegan. More details are available here.