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A coach or manager is of paramount importance in football. The stature and clout of an elite manager exceeds that of an elite player at times because a top player is often replaceable, but a top manager might not be.
A great manager can make a big difference in a team with his innovations, training methods, and strategic changes. He can revive the fortunes of a struggling team, or take an ordinary team to greater heights. Either way, he can prove himself to be invaluable for a football team.
There have been a lot of great coach/managers in football over the decades, but only a handful of them have been able to achieve immortality. They are the ones who have won a lot of accolades, honors, and titles for the teams they have managed, and etched their names permanently in the annals of football. We would take a look at 5 such managers in this article:
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#5. Ottmar Hitzfeld:
The stature and clout of Ottmar Hitzfeld can be gauged from the simple fact that he is called “Gottmar” in his homeland Germany and “Gott in German means God. Hitzfeld remains the greatest manager his country has ever produced and won every possible title at club level.
Hitzfeld was a moderately successful player for Bundesliga club VFB Stuttgart, and started pursuing a managerial career in 1983. He became the coach of Borussia Dortmund in 1991 and took the club to unprecedented heights. Dortmund reached two successive UEFA Champions League finals, and won the title in 1996-97, beating Juventus in the final.
Hitzfeld then took the charge of Bayern Munich and again took them to a couple of Champions League finals in 3 years from 1998-99 to 2000-01. They lost to Manchester United 1-2 after having conceded two goals in the injury time of the 1998-99 Champions League final. However, they made amends by beating Valencia in penalties in the 2000-01 final and winning the trophy.
Hitzfeld’s teams reached 4 Champions League finals in 5 years, which is a remarkable achievement by any standard. He also won 7 Bundesliga titles in his coaching career and started coaching the Swiss national team in 2008 and made them qualify for two successive World Cups in 2010 and 2014. Switzerland actually qualified for the 2014 World Cup without losing a match in the qualifying campaign.
The septuagenarian Hitzfeld does not coach anymore but remains one of the very few managers to have won the Champions League with two different clubs. He used to be a mathematics professor and was well-known for his tactical acumen. He is revered and respected by the football fraternity, and has inspired many footballers and managers in Germany.
#4. Vicente Del Bosque:
Vicente del Bosque is one of the most successful managers of all time and won every possible title at club and country level. He played for Spanish giants Real Madrid and started his coaching career in 1994. Del Bosque became the full-time coach of Real Madrid in 1999 and helped them become the greatest club team in the world in the early 2000s.
Real won the Champions League twice in 3 years from 1999-2000 to 2001-02, and also the La Liga title in 2000-01 and 2002-03. They beat Valencia 3-0 in the Champions League final in 1999-2000 and got the better of Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 in the final in 2001-02. Del Bosque became the manager of the Spanish national team in 2008 and helped them win their maiden World Cup title in 2010.
Del Bosque also won the European Championship with a dominant Spanish national team in 2012 by beating Italy 4-0 in the final. He stepped down as their manager after the 2014 World Cup. His man-management skills were exceptional, as he has handled a lot of superstars of World football in his coaching career. Players like Raul, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and Iker Casillas have played and thrived under him.
#3. Marcello Lippi:
Marcello Lippi is quite possibly the finest Italian football manager of all time and remains one of the few managers to have won both UEFA Champions League and the World Cup titles. He is a shrewd tactician, a great man-manager and remains an inspiration for many young footballers and managers.
Lippi played for Italian club Sampdoria, and started his managerial career in 1985. He became the manager of Juventus in 1994 and took them to three successive Champions League finals from 1995-96 to 1997-98. However, Juve could win only one of those finals, as they beat Borussia Dortmund in the final in 1995-96.
Lippi made Juventus one of the strongest teams in world football during the late 1990s and the early 2000s and again took them to the Champions League final in 2002-03. Juve again lost to Milan in penalties, but Lippi remains one of the few managers to have taken their clubs to 4 Champions League finals in 8 years. He also won 5 Serie A titles with Juve.
Lippi coached and inspired many legendary footballers like Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, Gianluca Zambrotta, Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Pavel Nedved, and Alessandro Del Piero. He became the coach of the Italian national team in 2004, and helped them win their 4th World Cup title in 2006. Italy beat France in penalties in the final to confirm Lippi’s status as one of the greatest managers of all time.
Lippi is a shrewd tactician like most of the Italian football managers and a great leader of men. His poise and calmness are exemplary and he has also won the AFC Champions League as the manager of Guangzhou Evergrande in 2013.
#2. Rinus Michels:
Rinus Michels was a pioneer in world football in many ways. He inculcated the philosophy of total football first at Ajax Amsterdam, and then at FC Barcelona. In that particular style of football, there was no fixed playing position for a footballer, and they used to fill in for their teammates when the latter used to be out of their original positions.
It also involved a tight and close passing game, which put emphasis on keeping the possession of the ball. Ajax became the best club in Europe in the late 1960s and early 1970s under Michels’ tutelage and won a European Cup under him. He also won 4 Eredivisie titles with Ajax.
The legendary Johan Cruyff was the talismanic player for Ajax during that period. Cruyff and Michels again combined to produce a stellar display for the Dutch national team in the 1974 World Cup. The Netherlands also had players like Johan Neeskens, Ruud Krol and Van Hanegem in their team, but lost to hosts West Germany 1-2 in the final.
Michels took the charge of FC Barcelona in 1971 and made the passing football popular at the Catalan club as well. Cruyff joined him at Barcelona in 1978 and made Barcelona the best club in Spain. Michels won one La Liga title as the manager of Barca.
He again became the manager of the Dutch national side in 1986, and won the European Championship with them in 1988, beating USSR 2-0 in the final. Michels inspired a generation of footballers including Ruud Gullit, Marco Van Basten, Ronald Koeman, and Frank Rijkaard. Michels’ legacy continues to live in world football even today, as he is duly called the pioneer of the much popular “tiki-taka” style of football.
#1. Sir Alex Ferguson:
No other manager can come close to Sir Alex Ferguson in terms of longevity and overall achievements in football. Sir Alex transformed Manchester United and made it the biggest and most popular brand in football. He spent an incredible 27 years as the manager of United and won a staggering 38 titles with them.
Not many people actually know or remember that Ferguson had coached the Scottish national team and Scottish club Aberdeen before joining United in 1986. He also managed to win the European Cup Winners Cup with Aberdeen. However, it took him a few years to make it big with United, and he won his first Premier League title in 1990-91.
He did not look back after that and collected 12 more Premier League titles before stepping down as the United manager in 2013. He also won the Champions League twice and finished runner-up on two more occasions. United reached 3 Champions League finals in 4 seasons from 2007-08 to 2010-11. They beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in the 1998-99 final and Chelsea on penalties in 2007-08.
Ferguson was a great man-manager and spotter of talent. He signed great players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Peter Schmichael, Nemanja Vidic, Roy Keane, Wayne Rooney, and Eric Cantona and helped them become superstars. He also handled home-grown players like Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, and Paul Scholes extremely well.
United demonstrated a never-say-die spirit under the great man and won many close encounters through late goals. They also became the embodiment of success and glory in world football under Fergie’s reign, and still, continue to be one of the most popular clubs in the world.
