Among the top coaches, it is difficult to find people who were previously top players. This is due to the fact that gifted players analyze the game less and think about strategy, compensating for this with talent, and average players, on the contrary, have to learn to delve into the intricacies of what is happening on the field.
That is why stars like Ronaldo or Diego Maradona in the coaching field did not achieve great heights. But, of course, there are exceptions to each rule, and it is precisely about them that we will discuss it today.
Recall 10 cool players who later became good coaches, and to make the list as relevant as possible, we take only those who have trained in the past 20 years.
10. Diego Simeone
Simeone spent the best years of his career as a player in Italy, where he took the UEFA Cup as part of Inter and became the country's champion with Lazio. He also did well in Spain, where he became the champion with Madrid Atletico. For the Argentine national team, he played 106 matches, although not the main star, but still an important part of the team.
Many considered the main problem of his character: Simeone was quick-tempered and arrogant, did not hesitate to play "dirty", for which many did not like him.
Few believed that he would turn out to be a good coach, but he devoted himself to all the skeptics: at first he twice became the champion of Argentina, then he headed Atlético and sensationally led him to the championship in 2014, interrupting the dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Also, we must not forget about the two finals of the Champions League, albeit lost.
9. Roberto Mancini
As a footballer, Mancini was recognized 3 times as the player of the year in Italy (in 1988, 1991 and 1997), having spent his entire career on the Apennines.
In total, he won 13 team trophies, including several European cups. As a coach, he also achieved a lot, having won, among other things, the championship in the Premier League, which is considered the most powerful league on the planet.
8. Fabio Capello
The chapel-footballer was not a star, but he confidently held the title of a strong middle peasant. He spent his entire career in strong clubs: Roma, Milan, Juventus, and also played over 3 dozen matches for the Italian national team.
As a coach, he achieved much more: 7 Series A gold medals (2 were taken away from Juventus after the Calcopolis), as well as several champion seasons at Real Madrid.
On the coaching bridge, he won everything that is possible, given club football. Many had high hopes for him when he stood at the helm of the Russian team, but alas, a miracle did not happen.
7. Valery Lobanovsky
Valery Vasilievich gave all his football youth to Dynamo Kiev, showing a great game there, but despite this, he was hardly called up to the USSR team because of the crazy competition in those years.
As for the coaching career of Lobanovsky, it turned out great without exaggeration: 3 European cups with Dynamo, silver at Euro 1988, the legendary defeat of Barcelona at Camp Nou, the discovery of Shevchenko and Rebrov's talent.
His ideas were monitored by the whole world, many copied and repeated, but no one really could surpass. In the vote for the title of the best coach of all time, Valery Lobanovsky took 7th place, becoming the most famous coach of Soviet and post-Soviet football.
6. Carlo Ancelotti
Like Capello, Ancelotti was not a star, but still he had an even, good career: AC Milan, Roma and Parma strong in those years. As a coach, he won everything he could at the club level, including the Champions League (3 times).
He took the gold of the national championship in Italy, England, France and Germany, that is, in 4 of the 5 most powerful championships. In total, with different teams he won more than two dozen trophies, twice becoming the best coach in the world.
5. Josep Guardiola
Playing for Barcelona and the Spanish national team, Guardiola was the think tank, constructing attacks and conducting the team’s game. As an adherent of clever combinational football, he continued to practice the same principles as a coach, creating the strongest Barca in history.
So far, neither in Germany nor in England it has been possible to achieve the same success, but he also did not have frank failures.
4. Zinedine Zidane
The name of this football player is familiar to everyone who is even a little interested in football, because at one time in Juventus, Real Madrid and the French team he was really good. The golden ball, a bunch of team achievements and personal awards allowed him to forever write his name in history, but this was not enough for him.
Having worked for several years, first as an assistant to the head coach, and then as the head coach of the second “creamy” squad, Zidane in 2016 led the main team after leaving Rafa Benitez.
Since then, he has done something that no one has succeeded before: he won the Champions League 3 times in a row. Now he is back after a short break and he has every chance in the next season to surpass his own achievement.
3. Jupp Heynckes
He spent his entire career as a player in the Mönchengladbach Borussia, twice becoming the top scorer of the season at a time when Gerd Müller was at his peak. Also with the national team, he became the champion of the world and Europe, falling into the symbolic national team of the tournament.
As a coach, he has already won more than 10 trophies, including 2 Champions League and the title of best coach in the world in 2013.
2. Vicente del Bosque
He spent his entire career as a player in Real Madrid and the Spanish national team, but won not so many trophies. He achieved much more already by becoming a coach: he is the only one on our list who really won ALL significant trophies as a coach. Two victories in the Champions League, several champion seasons in Spain, and most importantly - the gold of the World Cup and European Championship at the head of the irrepressible team of Spain.
1. Kenny Dalglish
Having received the nickname “King” from Liverpool fans, Kenny did his best to justify their love and trust. He was recognized as the best striker of post-war British football, becoming a real symbol of the "Reds". As part of the club, he was from 1977 to 1984. won 4 Champions League gold, taking 2nd place in the vote for the Golden Ball -1983.
In the 1985/86 season, Dalglish was a playing coach, and leading the team to the next title in the Premier League, he won two sets of medals at once. Having headed Blackburn after his career, in 1995 he did almost the same as Claudio Ranieri in Leicester and led the club not the strongest to the championship, which no one expected.