Sean McVay and Mikel Arteta: How Rams Coach and Arsenal Boss Became Friends

If you were to guess where Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay is this week, you’d probably guess a few places.

Maybe he would be out with Matthew Stafford, newly drafted quarterback Ty Simpson, and the rest of the Rams team out at their Woodland Hills practice facility, going through the motions to begin their 2026 season.

Or he might be taking a mini-vacation with his wife and newborn second child somewhere in Hawaii or another tropical paradise before beginning another stressful year as the head coach of one of the best teams in football.

If you picked London, however, then you would be the winner.

But why?

Well, McVay was in England to support one of his closest friends in the coaching world — no, not anyone from the NFL, but Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta, who led his team to the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years on Monday in a 1-0 win over Atlético Madrid.

How did two of the best young coaches in the world in entirely different sports across an ocean become such close confidants?

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While one is in Los Angeles and the other in London, the Rams and Arsenal are actually owned by the same person, Stan Kroenke.

In 2019, the two met as Kroenke likes to have his teams intermingle during breaks, and the coaches hit it off, with McVay even giving credit to Arteta for helping him see things differently during difficult stretches with the Rams.

Both have talked up the other in interviews, as they seek to do the same thing in their respective fields: win a championship.

For McVay, he accomplished that in 2021, when the Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.

For Arteta, McVay was there to see him make it to the Champions League final in Budapest, where he’ll face either Bayern Munich or PSG at the end of May.

If McVay is spotted in the stands on May 30 in Hungary, don’t be too surprised. He’ll be there supporting his friend to see if he can win his own Super Bowl.

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This story was originally published May 5, 2026 at 5:08 PM.