Iconic Football Coaches Non-British (No Longer Coaching)
Written by; Tao MacLeod
The coach is a leading member of any team’s support staff. They help the players to develop, organise the starting eleven and steer the squad together towards a shared aim. The coach can develop a style of play and create an overriding ethos. The true greats can even leave a legacy behind them for future generations to follow as an example, or inspire others to get involved in sport. Previously, I have written articles celebrating iconic coaches hailing from Britain (where I am currently living) and those from the women’s game.
This is the turn of those from overseas. There are a variety of interesting stories out there of those with a wealth of knowledge, who have helped to develop the tactics within football and moved the game forward from around the world. I have opted to pick coaches that are no longer coaching, therefore people like Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Marcelo Bielsa, Jurgen Klopp and even Luis Felipe Scolari are omissions due to the ongoing nature of their careers. I’ve placed the coaches in alphabetically order, instead of judging the best amongst themselves. Some of the picks have been based around the world, broken glass ceilings, perhaps even changed the ethos of the game and/or created a new culture within their respective communities more so than any particular medal/trophy based achievements. The team name, or names that I have placed in brackets next to each person listed are the sides that they are best known for having coached. Here is the Half Court Press selection for the most iconic football coaches of all time, from outside of the British Isles.
Non-British (no longer coaching)
Johan Cryuff (Ajax & Barcelona); as a player he also appears in the Half Court Press article Football Dream Team, as one of the world’s greatest players. He is one of the few people to have been a world class player and a world class coach. Alongside Rinus Michels, he was a proponent of the playing philosophy Total Football. This was a tactical system that any outfield player could take over the role of any one of his, or her, team mates. It started whilst playing at his first club Ajax of Amsterdam, but was later developed by the Dutch national team and FC Barcelona.
Having retired from playing in 1984, he followed his mentor, Rinus Michels, into coaching. He took the top job at Ajax of Amsterdam, the club where he made his name in the 1960s and 1970s. Here he continued a flexible playing style that encouraged mobile defenders and attack minded forwards. Whilst based in the Dutch capital city, his side was won the KNVB Cup in 1986 and 1987, as well as the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1987. This led to an opportunity to head back over to Spain to manage the Catalonian giants of Barcelona in 1988, a move in which mirrored a choice made as a player.
Here Cruyff spent the most successful period of his coaching career. He led his side to four La Liga titles in a row, between 1991 and 1994, three Supercopa de España medals, the Copa del Rey in 1990, the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1989, the European Super Cup, as well as the club’s first ever European Cup in 1992. This squad included a certain defensive midfielder Josep Guardiola, a creative, intelligent deep lying playmaker. This was a tactical role that would be continued by Pep when he built upon the Total Football philosophy during his tenure as Barcelona coach, learnt under Cruyff during this time period.

Bela Guttmann (São Paulo & Benfica); hailing from Budapest, he was a product of the school of intellectual and tactically nuanced football personalities that came out of Hungary in the early part of the twentieth century. He would become, arguably, the game’s first managerial superstar. A journeyman, both as a player and as a coach, his career has drawn parallels with José Mourinho. Guttmann was outspoken and rambucksious, never coached at a club for more than three years, latterly describing the third year as fatal. A pioneer of tactical changes, whilst at São Paulo FC (where he led the team to the State Championship in 1957) he helped to introduce the 4-2-4 system that helped the brilliant Brazil side win the 1970 World Cup. Upon returning to Europe, he coached Benfica to back to back European Cup victories, the only two in the club’s history thus far…
As a player, his career took him from Hungary to Austria, as well as to New York in the early footballing days in the United States of America. He would go on to represent his country four times on the international stage. Having been born to a Jewish family, in what was then Austria-Hungary in 1899, Bela was hunted and targeted by the NAZI’s during the 1930s. Not much is known about how he survived during the second World War, but we do know that he escaped a forced labour camp (where he was undoubtedly tortured), shortly before he was meant to have been sent to Auschwitz. Much of his friend and family were murdered during this period, including father and older sister.
An advocate for attacking football, his 40 year coaching career took him across ten different countries, having worked with 25 different teams, including AC Milan, the Austrian national side, Porto and the aforementioned Sao Paolo and Benfica sides. It was whilst at the Portuguese giants (where he mentored a young Eusébio) that he had a now infamous falling out with the club’s hierarchy. Having won two league titles in 1960 and 1961, then two European Cups in 1961 and 1962 he asked for a pay rise. Upon being turned down, he left the club and had a curse placed upon the organisation. He was reportedly quoted as saying, “Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champions again”. They have reached the final of the European Cup five times since then (1963, 1965, 1968, 1988 & 1990), two Europa League Finals (2013 & 2014), as well the final of the UEFA Cup (1983) losing each and every one of them.
Bela Guttmann’s managerial honours include winning two domestic cup’s, three continental trophies (including the forerunner to the European Cup) and seven national league championships. In 2013 World Soccer magazine listed him as the ninth greatest manager of all time. In 2017 David Bolchover wrote a biography on the coach, called the Greatest Comeback; From Genocide to Football Glory.

Helenio Herrera (Inter Milan); born in the Argentinian capital city of Buenos Aires, to a Spanish immigrant, his family then moved to Morocco when he was still quite young. It was here that he started playing for Raja Casablanca as a centre back, moving on to turn out for a variety of French sides before hanging up his boots in 1945. He stayed in France as a coach until 1948 where he then went to Spain with stints at Real Valladolid, Atlético Madrid (where he won two La Liga titles in 1950 and 1951), Málaga, Sevilla and Barcelona (two more back to back La Ligas in 1959 and 1960, as well as two Copa del Rey triumphs). There was even a short period in charge of the Spanish national team. However, it was his time spent in Italy that he cemented his reputation. Up until this point his sides had been fluid attacking footballing teams, but whilst at Inter Milan, he introduced an additional defender and played a 5-3-2 formation, which had an emphases on defensive strength. This became known as Catennaccio (translated as the door-bolt).
Herrera insisted that the extra defender was meant to provide the attackers with more freedom to express themselves and that those who copied him got the focus all wrong, but his tactical adaptations had a profound impact on the footballing culture in Italy. The league has become known as a focal point for defensive control and making life difficult for attackers. This started with the introduction of Helenio’s sweeper in this era. He was also an early adopter of the use of psychology and nutrition to aid his players. Whilst at Inter Milan his team won three Series A titles, back to back European Cups in 1964 and 1965, as well as two Intercontinental Cups during the same period. There was also a Coppa Italia victory, during a stint at Roma, in 1969. He was placed fourth in World Soccer magazine’s 2013 greatest manager of all time list.
Hugo Meisl (Austria); born in 1881 in what was then a part of the Austria-Hungarian Empire, his home town of Maleschau, Bohemia is now a part of the Czech Republic. Hailing from a middle class family, he got a job as a bank clerk in Vienna where he developed a strong interest in football. Whilst here he joined the Vienna Cricket and Football Club, where he played as an inside forward. He threw himself into the sport, he took on a role as a football administrator. He became an active referee, even being listed as a match official at the football tournament at the 1912 Olympics Games in Stockholm. In this time he also developed a working relationship with English coach Jimmy Hogan (a member of the Iconic British Football Coaches), where the two men shared ideas on tactics and coaching theory. Meisl developed a style of play based around a combination passing game, different to the individual flair favoured by the Latin Americans and the rugged individual masculinity promoted in England.
In 1912 he took on two roles at Wiener Amateure and the Austria-Hungary national team. This international role was then continued in 1919 when he took on the Austria top job. Whilst here Hugo developed the Wunderteam, which would go on to become one of the great teams never to truly fulfil their potential. Between April 1931 and December 1932 they went on a 14 game unbeaten run. This was followed up by a 4-2 competitive victory over Italy in 1934, thus making the Austrians one of the favourites for the World Cup of the same year. Unfortunately for the Central Europeans they lost to the Italians in the semi-final, eventually finishing fourth after losing to the Germans in the third place playoff. This squad went on to then take the silver medal at the 1936 Olympic Games, under the tutelage of Meisl’s colleague Jimmy Hogan. However it was the style of play that the Austrian had helped to develop that got the team to the position that they were more competitive than they are in the modern era. It was his time in the Vienna that he came to represent the coffee shop intellectualism that came out of Central Europe, having a thoughtful and cultivated approach to the game. This pass and move style then inspired future generations that we now appreciated as a form of entertainment. Hugo died of a heart attack in 1937.

Rinus Michels (Ajax, Barcelona & the Netherlands); one of the greatest coaches of all time, he was one of the early proponents of the playing philosophy Total Football. In doing so, he has had a long term positive impact on what came after he retired. Future generations of coaches, included his prodigy and captain John Cruyff when he became a coach (more on him later). Also Pep Guardiola, now of Manchester City and previously Barcelona, latterly expanded on his style of play, but Michels was a foremost thinker of aesthetically pleasing footy in the 1960s and ’70s. As a team manager, he won the European Cup with Ajax of Amsterdam in 1971, as well as the European Championships in 1988, with the Dutch national team, also losing the final of the 1974 World Cup.
Hailing from the city of Amsterdam, he spent his entire playing career at the top local side AFC Ajax, going onto represent the Dutch national team five times. It was during this period that he played under English manager Jack Reynolds (described by Johnathan Wilson as the founding father of the sport in Holland) who promoted an attacking brand of football, whilst developing young local talent. Alongside his star player, Johan Cruyff, Michels went on to implement a style of play where players would pass and move at will, interchanging positions in a fluid and creative manner. The first of his two stints as manager of Ajax (where he won four league titles, three domestic cups and the aforementioned European title) led to a move to Barcelona. It was at the Catalonian giants that he helped create the club that we now know today. Here his side triumphed in the 1974 La Liga Championship, as well as the 1978 Copa del Rey. Helped by his talismanic captain, he helped to create a culture from the youth team to the senior side that the players and the fans alike all bought into and remains today, inspiring other coaches and teams to try and emulate, add to and evolve upon what he helped to develop throughout his coaching career.
Marcelo Lippi (Juventus & Italy); having started out as a youth team coach at Sampdoria – a team that he had turned out for as a player – he slowly rose up through the Italian league structure as first team manager. There were stints at Atlanta and Napoli in the early 1990s, before moving to Juventus in 1994. This was the first of two stints, which sandwiched a spell with Inter Milan, where he won five Serie A championships, one Coppa Italia, as well as the UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup in 1996. These last two victories were preceded by his side’s Champions League victory in 1996 and followed up with runners-up medals in 1997, 1998 and 2003 (that’s an impressive three European Cup final appearances in a row). International football beckoned, taking on the Italian head coaching position for the first time in 2004. It was here that he led the Azzurri to World Cup victory in 2006.
His style of play was adapted to suit the players at his disposal. At various times in his career a Lippi team would be a counter attacking side, that used a sweeper, to a more fluid attacking side that moved through play makers such as Zinedine Zidane and Francesco Totti. He thought that the team was more important than any individual player and promoted unity and tactical versatility over the years. He thought that formations and strategies were there to get the best out of the group, not the other way around. Marcelo would strive to find a way to work with who he had in his team. In 2012 the Italian moved to China to coach Guangzhou Evergrande, the top club side in the country (winning a further three league titles), before taking over the Chinese national team between 2016 and 2019. In 1998 he was named UEFA Club Coach of the Year, as well as World Soccer World Manager of the Year in 2006. In 2011 Marcelo Lippi was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.

Valeriy Lobanovskyi (Dynamo Kyiv & USSR); posthumously honoured with the Hero of Ukraine decoration (the highest award his country can confer upon a citizen), he was born in Kyiv in January of 1939 in what was then a part of the Soviet Union. His playing career was predominately spent with Dynamo Kyiv, between 1957 and 1964 before stints Chornomorets Odesa and Shaktar Donetsk in the mid to late 1960s. Lobanovskyi also turned out twice for the Soviet Union.
Lobanovskyi’s coaching career began in 1969 with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, a lower league provincial side (that was recently wound up in 2019, whilst playing in the Ukrainian amateur leagues). It was here that his emerging ideas showed enough promise to earn a move back home to Dynamo Kyiv – the team backed by the interior ministry and secret police. Across three stints as manager (1973-1982, 1984-1990 & 1997-2002) he oversaw the club’s most successful periods in its history. Under his guidance Dynamo won eight Soviet Top League titles, six Soviet Cups, five Ukrainian National Leagues and had three Ukrainian Cup victories. His Kyiv team also won the European Cup Winners’ Cup twice, in 1975 and 1986, as well as the European Super Cup in 1975. In addition to this, the club also reached the semi finals of the European Cup and latterly the Champions League in 1977, 1987 and 1999, proving that his coaching methods could evolve across different generations. It would seem that he was keen to continuously learn and improve throughout his long career. There were international achievements as well, built upon plenty of experience. Lobanovskyi had stints heading up the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1979 and then an independent Ukraine in the early 2000s, as well as the United Arab Emirates. However it was his time in charge of the Soviet Union (1975-1976, 1982-1983 & 1986-1990) that he found most success. Here his team finished as runners up in the 1988 European Championships and took home the bronze medal at the 1976 Olympic Games.
Valeriy’s style of play was based around a similar strand of thought as that of Rinus Michels and his Total Football philosophy, in that he thought that the team was benefited by players who could perform more than one function – everybody did their part no matter where he found himself on the pitch. However, there was a stronger emphasis on team cohesion and pressing of the opposition than what had come out of the Netherlands. Lobanovskyi spoke about an effective type of universalisation (which others might call a socialist, or Soviet playing style), where players were able to perform in attack and in defence equally well. Individuals were given a strong technical base to then contribute to a broader tactical system in order to help the collective. He was also ahead of his time in when he started implementing physical fitness (alongside Anatoly Zelentsov from the Kyiv State Institute of Physical Education) during training sessions and nutritional elements to the diets of his players. He was also one of the first managers to bring sports science into football, ensuring that each member of his team were able to work hard for each other. The coach has also been described as a great psychologist by those who have worked with him.
Having previously suffered two heart attacks, Valeriy Lobanovskyi died in 2002 after having had a stroke. He is one of five football coaches to have been ranked in the top ten Greatest Managers of All Time, by France Football and World Soccer Magazines, as well as the cable sports channel ESPN. He was also named the Ukrainian manager of the Season five times, between 1997 and 2002. He also received both the FIFA Order of Merit and the UEFA Order of Merit in 2002.
César Luis Menotti (Argentina & Barcelona); a coach with a rebellious nature, he came across as a cool figure on the sidelines during matches in the 1970s and ‘80s. Nicknamed El Flaco (the thin guy), his long hair, fashionable attire and cigarette smoking whilst situated on the team bench saw him cultivate an iconic image. A staunch socialist and member of the Communist Party, he was publicly vocal about his political opinions. Thus he became an unlikely figurehead for the Argentine national team, when the military junta inherited the hosting of the 1978 World Cup and used the competition for its own purposes.
As a player, he turned out as a forward for a variety of clubs across Argentina and Brazil, even appearing for the New York Generals in the experimental North American Soccer League (NASL). He earned 11 caps for the national team between 1963 and 1968. After retiring he turned his hand to coaching, winning his first silverware in this role whilst in charge at Club Atlético Huracán, taking home the 1973 Metropolitano. However, it was his time in charge of Argentina that he will be remembered. His tenure lasted between 1974 and 1983, whilst also looking after the under-20 for a brief period in the late 1970s. With the youth side he led them to victory in the 1975 Toulon Tournament and the 1979 U-20 World Cup. His greatest success, though, was leading La Albiceleste to the World Cup in 1978. He was under immense pressure, not only from the football mad home supporters, but the government, led by a military dictatorship who were keen to use the hosting of such a global event to their own advantage, through good publicity and PR spin. In addition to this Menotti faced criticism after he left out of the final squad the teenaged superstar Diego Maradona, thinking that he was too young to handle the tensions of the tournament. Despite all of this the Argentines did succeed, winning their first ever title in this event.
This victory was achieved in a fun and exciting manner. Menotti believed in risk orientated footy and taking on the opposition. Having taken over the team after a disappointing 1974 campaign, he helped to reshape the side with a more forward thinking style of play. In the previous tournament Argentina had been humiliated by a four nil loss to the Netherlands (firm favourites of neutral football fans), as they showed their Total Football philosophy on a global stage. Four years later, in 1978, Argentina met the Dutch again, but this time in the Grande Finale, where this time the home side came out on top. Star forward Mario Kempes even bagged the Golden Boot award for the top goalscorer.
Europe beckoned, and he spent time at Barcelona and Atlético Madrid in the 1980s and Sampdoria in the late 1990s. It was his time in Catalonia that brought further success, winning the Copa del Rey, Copa de la Liga (both against el Clásico rivals Real Madrid) and Supercopa de España in 1983. He returned to Latin America taking on the Mexican national team, with further coaching roles across the Argentine, Mexican and Uruguayan leagues. He retired in the late 2000s, before being enticed back to the Argentinian national team as a director between 2019 and 2023. In 2013 World Soccer Magazine ranked him as the 22nd Greatest Manager of All Time. The story of the 1970 World Cup, warts and all, was told by Rhys Richards in his book, Blood on the Crossbar; the Dictatorship’s World Cup.
Arrigo Sacchi (AC Milan & Italy); having never played the game at any serious level, he did well to reach such lofty heights as a coach. In fact he started coaching his local side Baracca Lugo, at the age of 26, because he wasn’t good enough to play for them. His goalkeeper and centre forward were several years older than he was, meaning that he started developing his man management skills before many of his contemporaries. Sacchi had a variety of roles throughout the 1970s and ‘80s, including youth positions at Cesana and Fiorentina, his first major job was at Parma. However, he will be best remembered for his two stints with AC Milan, which sandwiched a spell in charge of the Italian national team.
When he turned up in the regional capital of Lombardy, in 1987, he faced questions over his credibility to coach a football club as large as AC Milan. The infamous owner of the team, Silvio Berlusconi (known for his populist right wing politics, series of controversies and Bunga Bunga parties, whilst President of Italy) had hired Sacchi, but the press argued that the old man, who had been a decent amateur, had been a better player than his coach. Arrigo was reported to have responded with the quip, “I never realised that in order to become a jockey you have to have been a horse first.”
He had nothing to lose and with that mindset started to move away from the staunchly defensive man-to-man set-up favoured by Italian league football. Sacchi had grown up admiring attack minded teams such as Budapest Honvéd, Real Madrid, Brazil and the Netherlands and brought this to his time at Milan, when most coaches, even those who shared his philosophy, eventually adapted to the Italian defensive culture. He figured that it wasn’t enough simply to win games, but the most celebrated teams also had to entertain. His team played a 4-4-2 formation, with a high pressing, zonal defensive system. The Dutch trio of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard definitely helped, as did Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, Mauro Tassotti and club legend Paolo Maldini, but so did the coach’s stubbornness to play forward thinking football.
Arrigo quickly proved his critics wrong. Milan won Serie A in 1988, before going on to win back to back European trophies. The European Cup was duly delivered in 1989 and again in 1990, whilst also taking home the respective European Super Cups and Intercontinental Cups across both seasons. In 1991 he was appointed head coach of the Italian national team. Here he led the Azzurri to the World Cup final in 1994, only losing out to Brazil on a penalty shootout. In 2011 Sacchi was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame. In 2022 he received the UEFA President’s Award, in recognition of his outstanding achievements and professional excellence. Alongside Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Arrigo is one of five football coaches to have been ranked in the top ten Greatest Managers of All Time, by France Football and World Soccer Magazines, as well as the cable sports channel ESPN. Not bad for somebody who had started out as a salesman at his father’s shoe factory.

Giovanni Trappatoni (Juventus & Inter Milan); having spent most of his playing career at AC Milan, he would go on to coach both Milanese clubs, finding some success with city rivals Internazionale Milano. He also won major trophies when in charge at Bayern Munich, but his largest haul of trophies came whilst at Juventus. His stay in Turin saw six league titles and two Coppa Italia victories, alongside two UEFA Cup wins (1977 & 1993), the 1984 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and the 1985 European Cup, also taking home the Intercontinental Cup the same year. ‘Il Trap’ is one of the most decorated football coaches of all time, having won 10 league championships in Italy, Germany, Portugal and Austria. He is one of only five coaches to have won league titles in four different European countries, one of three coaches to have won three major European club competitions.
In his heyday he played as a centre back, or holding midfielder and he maintained this mindset as a coach. Trappatoni’s sides were so conservative that he was called”the King of Catenaccio” (the defensive system introduced by Helenio Herrera, translated as the door-bolt). He would go on to evolve this system into what became known as the Zona mista, or mixed zone. It kept the libero/sweeper in the backline, but allowed intelligent players to be more flexible in where they moved during the game, moving between a 3-5-2, a 4-4-2, or a 4-3-3 system, often deploying a second striker between the lines, depending on the situation. It helped him to win a treble in 1984, with Juventus taking the Italian league championship, the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup and European Super Cup in 1984.
Aside from coaching the Italian national team, who he took to the 2002 World Cup, Trappatoni also took on the Irish team between 2008 and 2013. His side was controversially knocked out of the 2010 World Cup playoffs against France, after a Thierry Henry handball went unnoticed by the referee in the build up to a goal. Ireland, did however, qualify for the 2012 European Championships, under his guidance, also winning the 2011 Nations Cup. It was around this time that Giovanni was inducted into the Italian Football Hall of Fame.
Mario Zagallo (Brazil); a player in the first ever World Cup winning Brazilian side, he was a team mate of a young Pele when he announced himself on to the global stage, in 1958. The two men will be forever linked together as the elder of the two would go onto coach the superstar number 10 when their brilliant team won the tournament for a third time in 1970. The forward described Zagallo as the ‘calmest person I have ever known’. Starting out at Botafogo he led his side to back to back Rio de Janeiro State Championships in 1967 and 1968, as well as the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 1968. He would go onto win the Rio de Janeiro State Championships a further three times with Fluminense and Flamengo, as well as the Copa dos Campeões with the latter side in 2001. There were also stints overseas, where he coached Al-Hilal to the Saudi Premier League in 1979 and the Kuwait national team to the Arabian Gulf Cup in 1976.
However, he will always be remembered for taking the Brazilians to the 1970 World Cup victory. This was the great Verde-Amarela team that included Tostão, Gérson and Jairzinho (who came second in the goalscoring charts, behind Gerd Müller) and captained by Carlos Alberto, playing a forward thinking 4-2-4 formation. The team topped their first round group, that included World Champions England. In this match, between two global heavyweights at the time, in the early stages of the tournament Brazil came out as narrow winners. Knock-out victories over Latin American rivals Peru and Uruguay pitted them against Italy in the Grande Finale. They romped to victory, in a style that came to represent all that the team stood for. Pele, the best player on the planet opened the scoring. With second half goals from Gérson and Jairzinho. However, it was the passing and movement that created the fourth and finished off by the overlapping full back Carlos Alberto that summed up their beautiful style of play.
It almost never came to pass, as Mario wasn’t at the helm leading up to the World Cup. It was in fact João Saldanha lost his job due to political machinations at the heart of the national federation, with Zagallo taking over shortly before the tournament started. Nicknamed the Professor, by his players due to his tactical awareness and commanding presence, he was also one of the early adopters of physical preparation before tournaments. In his second stint as coach of the national side, he led Brazil to the Copa America and Confederations Cup in 1997. He was also involved as a co-ordinator when the Seleção Brasileira won their fourth world title in 1994 (the first since his leadership in 1970). A book entitled the Beautiful Team; in Search of Pelé and the 1970 Brazilians was written by Garry Jenkins, which described the build up and outcomes of the tournament.
Honourable Mentions
Franz Beckenbauer (West Germany & Bayern Munich); nicknamed der Kaiser in his playing days, due to his commanding defensive style, he is widely considered to have helped to create the libero/sweeper role within football. Listed in the Half Court Press Magazine’s Football Dream Team, he went on to become an equally successful coach after handing up his boots. His reputation was so great that, in 1984, he stepped straight into the top job with the West German national team, having never coached before. Beckenbauer’s understanding of the game was strong enough for him to coach his side to victory in the 1990 World Cup, having been runners-up in 1986 and finished in third place at the 1988 European Championships. A brief stint at French club Marseille oversaw a league championship victory, but it’s his connection with Bayern Munich that remained strong. Having played for the Bavarians in the 1960s and ‘70s, he returned as manager in 1993. A Bundesliga title and UEFA Cup winners medal followed in 1994 and 1996 respectively.
Tele Santana (São Paulo & Brazil); regarded as having helped to reinvent the Brazilian national side of the 1980s as the beautiful team, he never quite found success on the international stage. However he did win a ton of trophies as manager elsewhere. In a coaching career that spanned almost 30 years, he found success at Fluminense, Atlético Mineiro, Grêmio and Flamengo. He even had a stint in Saudi Arabia, with Al-Ahli. However, it was his time spent with São Paulo where he gained his biggest haul of trophies, including the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A in 1991, as well as two victories in the Copa Libertadores and the Intercontinental Cup, both in 1992 and 1993 respectively, making them the best team in the world on more than one occasion. In 1992 Santana was named South American Coach of the Year.
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal); another coach on this list who was nicknamed ‘the professor’, this time by English football fans, due to his studious demeanour. He had a playing career in his native France, but achieved nothing of particular merit. It was only in his coaching career that he fulfilled his potential and only after being initially disregarded by his own fans. Having started out with Nancy in the mid 1980s, he won the French league with Monaco in 1988 and the French Cup in 1991. He moved to Japan shortly afterwards, winning the Emperor’s Cup in 1995 and the Japanese Super Cup in 1996. It was after this that he got the job where he made his name. After Bruce Rioch was sacked that same year, England’s Arsenal came calling.
Initially the fans were against the move, having never heard of him and due to Wenger having come from a comparatively inferior league. However, he went on to stay for 22 years, an absolute eternity in modern football, only retiring in 2018. In this time he won the English FA Cup seven times, the league three times (including the domestic double in 1998 and 2002) and got Arsenal to the 2006 Championship League final, only losing out to a very good Barcelona side. His side’s last league title came in 2004, which was made famous for the team’s undefeated run. In total the side went 38 games without losing, with 26 wins and 12 draws, between the 1st of July 2003 and the 30th of June 2004, breaking the previous record held by Brian Clough’s and Peter Taylor’s Nottingham Forrest.
Wenger changed the culture at Arsenal from a style of play that was boring and uninspiring to something that lit up the pitch in an exciting and attacking manner. It was great to watch. The late, great Brian Clough reportedly quipped: “Arsenal caress a football the way I dreamed of caressing Marilyn Monroe”. In his early days at the club he also strove to improve the diets and training methods of the players, improving the professionalism of the English lads (he once had to stop Ian Wright from roller skating through the marble hall inside the Arsenal stadium), and combating the strong drinking culture that had developed over the years. He also brought with him a fantastic knowledge of the continental game, its tactics and the transfer market. Early player purchases included Patrick Viera and Thierry Henry, who helped to move the club from also rans to one of the best teams in the country, challenging the dominance of Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United along the way. It would be this rivalry that came to partially define both men’s time in England and help to popularise the Premier League in the competition’s early days.
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