Prior to 2019, only one manager in the history of football had won two successive World Cups. That man was Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo, who led his nation to football’s biggest prize in 1934 and 1938. With a star cast at his disposal, his innovativeness was great to watch and he etched his name as one…

In an attic in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands, one can find an old box containing notes. These cover tactical writings related to the Dutch national team of 1992, when they were led by Rinus Michels at the European Championships in Sweden that year. The Dutch managed to reach the semi-finals that year, losing to Denmark in…

When Everton won their last piece of silverware in 1995, Carlo Ancelotti had only recently embarked on his maiden managerial journey with Reggiana. A quarter century later, the onus is entirely on the Italian to put and end to the trophy drought at Goodison Park.   Carlo Ancelotti has been a manager for 25 years.…

After the end of the Bundesliga season, Borussia Mönchengladbach sporting director Max Eberl spoke to the media in praise of head coach Marco Rose: “He is a top coach. Unfortunately, if you look at it from our point of view, that makes him interesting for other clubs as well, of course – and I mean…

Longevity in coaching jobs is a rarity in the modern game and opportunities at the most powerful or historically significant clubs need to be taken otherwise those employment opportunities might not resurface.   Unfortunately for Marco Giampaolo, his brief stint at AC Milan in the early stages of the 2019/20 season was nothing short of…

What usually is talked about before a big Champions League game is either the history of the clubs involved or the clash between star players. But when PSG and RB Leipzig face off in the Champions League semi-finals on Tuesday night, the main focus will be on the two German tacticians who created their own…

In February 2001, Mainz, who were struggling in the second division of German football, made a tough decision and gave the coaching reins to an untested Jürgen Klopp, who formerly played for the club as a centre-half. This was a team on the wrong end of the table and giving the coaching job to a…

Towards the end of the documentary “Sadio Mané: Made in Senegal,” the Liverpool forward enthused, “The only thing we have the freedom to do as men is to dream.”   As Mané can attest, dreaming and living it are two different things. Fortune only favors the brave, as İstanbul Başakşehir manager Okan Buruk knows too…

The city of Granada is renowned for a variety of things — the medieval Arab citadel known as the Alhabrama, the Flamenco dancers, the bull-fighting, the pomegranates — but football isn’t one of them.    Since the club’s founding in 1931, Granada CF have yo-yoed back and forth the top three divisions of the Spanish…

A new light has been illuminated in football, a new step has been taken towards the change we need to see in our society. Black managers have struggled for opportunities in English football, but in Turkey, Trabzonspor’s 48-year-old manager Eddie Newton has taken his opportunity by the scruff of his neck.   At the turn…