COACHES WORLD- CREATIVITY WITHIN AND OUTSIDE
We are in a new era of football management where former players of teams have taken football coaching responsibilities than ever. Paris Saint Germain’s (PSG) head coach, Luis Enrique who was a former player of Barcelona, coached the Catalans to the European club title in 2015 before he took over the football managerial reigns of the French Champions PSG.
Zinedine Zidane, former player of Real Madrid coached the Galacticos between 2016 and 2018 and was reappointed in 2019 but finally said a bye to Florentino Perez side (Madrid) in 2021.
Mikel Arteta was a former player of the Gunners, Arsenal but served as a coaching assistant at Manchester City under Pep Guardiola before he took over the coaching reigns of the Emirates club (Arsenal) in 2020, guiding them to second place thrice in the English Premier League (EPL) behind Manchester City before becoming English Champions in the 2025/2026 edition.
Manchester United appointed their former midfielder, Michael Carrick to take over from Ruben Amorim in January 2026. The former English player (Carrick) has since guided the Red Devils (United) to third place in the English Premier League (EPL) for 2025/2026 season. On the note of his significant performance by qualifying Manchester United to the 2026/2027 European Champions League competition, United management (INEOS) handed Michael Carrick a two-year contract as permanent coach of the side.
Other names have emerged such as newly signed Manchester City boss, Enzo Maresca who plied his trade in his playing days with Juventus, Sevilla and West Bromwich Albion. Names such as Frank Rijkaard appeared on the scene sometime who played for AC Milan but acted as coach for Barcelona FC of Spain. Antonio Conte coached Chelsea but was a retired player from Leece and Juventus. Cesc Fabregas former player of Chelsea is now coach of Italian club, Como.
Current coach of the Brazilian national team, Carlo Ancelotti played for Parma, AS Roma and AC Milan before he coached the Rossoneri (Milan) and later Real Madrid. Among the lot, Michael Carrick, Mikel Arteta and Cesc Fabregas belonged to the third generation of football managers whereas Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Zinedine Zidane and now Luis Enrique belonged to the second generation. Guardiola, Klopp, Zidane and Enrique are improvements over Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Fabio Capello’s brand of coaching which were a bit pragmatic.
As Fabio Capello, Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelloti’s pragmatic era of expatriate coaching gradually left the scene due to age, football clubs began to discover that, if success can continue with these clubs, they needed to rediscover their true identity. That was when Unai Emery failed with Arsenal club and Mikel Arteta, a former player who knows the ‘INS’ and ‘OUTS’ of the Gunners was appointed.
After flirting with expatriate coaches for almost thirteen years and probably learning from the Arsenal model, Manchester United has settled with another former player, Michael Carrick who has brought stability and if what is seen is anything to go by, then Manchester United should be very successful under Michael Carrick given time. Paris Saint Germain couldn’t win the Champions League under German trainer Thomas Tuchel until Luis Enrique, a former player and coach of Barcelona took over and won the Champions League on two consecutive occasions.
France abysmal semifinal 2026 World Cup loss to Spain may have triggered the French football federation that, Didier Deschamps time was up for someone else to continue with the Les Bleus of France. Zidane has since been appointed as new French national football team manager. Jurgen Klopp has taken the national team job from Julian Nagelsmann after Germany’s disappointing round of 32 exit at the 2026 World Cup.
The Italians are also considering former Manchester City boss, Pep Guardiola to take over the helms of Italian national team football after the Italians suffered a third consecutive absence from the World Cup in 2026. The Azurri’s failed to qualify for the Russian World Cup in 2018, the Qatar World Cup in 2022 and the USA, Canada and Mexico World Cup in 2026.
What does these explain? National Football Federations are realizing upsurge in the club coaching industry among elite managers such as Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp who are proven winners with experience. For club heads that are recruiting coaches from within, it only means one thing: that former players who understand how to win with homegrown clubs and the various components that constitutes winning in terms of player choices and the disciplines that goes with it are winners on the day.
Credit: Ernest Tetteh Kabu