Coaches who have never been professional footballers

Which coaches who have never been professional footballers do you know ? Recently, it seems to be in fashion, to be a great coach, to have previously been a renowned or at least first division footballer. However, it has never been an essential criterion. This is why today, we present to you some success stories of coaches who have never played football professionally.

Coaches who have never been professional footballers :

Jose Mourinho : The controversial Portuguese coach never tasted the delights of success as an elite player. However, as a coach, he saw and came out on top in all situations, becoming one of the most successful coaches in international football while being a reference for many. His character and his way of doing things rarely leave one indifferent.. All this without having been a top player.

André Villas-Boas : Another Portuguese man also achieved success without having been a professional footballer. Villas Boas became one of the youngest coaches to achieve European glory. His precocity on the bench and, we assume, his lack of on-field talent prevented him from succeeding as an elite player. Something he succeeded as a coach from the start. He was an advanced disciple of Mourinho.

Rafa Benitez : The Madrilenian was one of those young people who wanted to succeed, at the beginning of the years 80, in the lower categories of Real Madrid. An injury shattered his dream and he was unable to play at the highest level. This pushed him, from a young age, working on the benches, where he achieved fame at the start of the 21st century. Since then, he became a prestigious trainer.

Carlos Alberto Parreira : The Brazilian coach rose to fame when he became world champion in 1994 with the national team of his country. However, as a footballer, he never played at the professional level, which did not prevent him from having a remarkable career, including a World Cup, something that very few have managed to achieve.

Arrigo Sacchi : The Italian changed the perspective of football in the late aughts 80 and at the beginning of the years 90. But he did it from the benches because he never set foot in a stadium as a professional footballer. This did not prevent him from being a visionary of his time and from building one of the best teams in history. His Milan.

Julian Nagelsmann : Another case of precocity like that of Vilas Boas. He became the youngest coach to manage in the Bundesliga at 28 years with the TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, which he had previously brought up. And to top it all off, has 34 ans, he was already the coach of Bayern Munich after doing wonders with one of the Red Bull teams around the world, RB Leipzig, become one of the new 'big’ of the Bundesliga. As a footballer, he played in several reserve teams before leaving football barely 20 years due to injuries.

Ariel Dutch : The case of this Argentine coach is even more unusual because he began his career on the benches as a field hockey coach for more than 10 ans, where he even became coach of the Uruguay women’s team in this discipline. He began his career as a professional football coach at 44 years and in 2017, he led Independiente to win the Copa Sudamericana and in 2018 to win the Copa Suruga Bank.

Other coaches who have not been professional footballers :

Pepe Bordalas, John Ignatius Martinez (JIM), Jorge Sampaoli, Leonardo Jardim, Lopez Caro, Pablo Machin, Mane, Javi pereira, Natxo González and many others.