World Cup: Top 10 coaches of all time
Grahame L. Jones’ 10 Greatest
World Cup Coaches of All Time
1. HELMUT SCHOEN (GERMANY): Schoen coached a record 25 World Cup games, won a record 16 and could have won the tournament three times. He led the Bayern Munich-powered West Germans to second place in 1966, to third place in 1970 and to the title in 1974. In between, he won Euro ‘72, and is the only coach to win both a world and European championship.
2. RINUS MICHELS (NETHERLANDS): Named coach of the century by FIFA in 1999, Michels was the architect behind the “total football” played by the great Dutch teams of the 1970s and 1980s and although he never won the World Cup, finishing second in 1974, his influence on the sport continues to be enormous.
3. GUSZTAV SEBES (HUNGARY): Sebes was the mastermind behind the extraordinary Hungarian team of the 1950s, the “Magnificent Magyars,” who finished second in the 1954 World Cup. He was a pioneer of the 4-2-4 formation and a forerunner of Michels. Under Sebes, Hungary was unbeaten in 32 consecutive games, still a record.
4. VICENTE FEOLA (BRAZIL): Feola coached Brazil to its first World Cup title, in 1958, when he introduced the world to a 17-year-old named Pele. Also responsible for discovering Garrincha, Feola led the Selecao again at the 1966 World Cup. He lost only six of 74 games as national team coach.
5. MARIO ZAGALLO (BRAZIL): In a record that is unique, “Lobo” Zagallo won the World Cup as a player in 1958 and 1962, as a coach in 1970 and as assistant coach in 1994. Getting the star-studded 1970 team to blend and win it all was his major accomplishment.
6. VITORRIO POZZO (ITALY): The only man to win the World Cup twice, Pozzo achieved the feat in 1934 and 1938. He would rank higher but for the fact that his 1934 team featured six foreign-born players, four from Argentina. Such shenanigans were permitted at the time, but were hardly sporting.
7. GUUS HIDDINK (NETHERLANDS): Where Michels left off, Hiddink began. A master tactician, he coached the Netherlands to the semifinals in 1998, losing to Brazil on penalty kicks, and repeated the feat with South Korea in 2002. A master at getting the most out of his players.
8. TELE SANTANA (BRAZIL): Santana took Brazil to the second round in 1982 and to the quarterfinals in 1986 employing an attacking philosophy that still earns the coach plaudits decades later for his teams’ attractive play.
9. JULIO CESAR MENOTTI (ARGENTINA): The chain-smoking Menotti had the guts to leave a young Diego Maradona off his roster and still won the 1978 World Cup. He rejected the cynical and overly physical approach of his predecessors and showed Argentines that the game can be played with finesse.
10. BOBBY ROBSON (ENGLAND): Alf Ramsey might have won the World Cup with England in 1966, but Robson’s achievement in leading the team to the quarterfinals in 1986 and the semifinals in 1990 is equally impressive. Maradona’s hand in Mexico and two missed penalty kicks in Italy denied him the ultimate prize.
