Maybe your country has a great national football team right now. Perhaps it is the best squad ever in nation’s history. This probably gives you hope for the next FIFA World Cup. If the national team has a manager (head coach) who isn’t native of the team’s country, I have some bad news for you. The odds are against you.
As of 2021, there have been 21 FIFA World Cup finals. And the manager of the winning team has always been native of the team’s country. Top two teams in World Cup’s all time record, Brazil and Germany, have never employed a foreign-born manager. By the way, Brazil may have won most World Cup titles (5 time winners), but Norway is the only team in the world who has played against Brazil, and never lost a game.
Managers of World Cup winning teams
All time record of World Cup winners with managing coach:
| Year |
Winners |
Manager |
|---|---|---|
| 1930 | Uruguay | Alberto Suppici |
| 1934 | Italy | Vittorio Pozzo |
| 1938 | Italy | Vittorio Pozzo |
| 1950 | Uruguay | Juan López Fontana |
| 1954 | West Germany | Sepp Herberger |
| 1958 | Brazil | Vicente Feola |
| 1962 | Brazil | Aymoré Moreira |
| 1966 | England | Alf Ramsey |
| 1970 | Brazil | Mário Zagallo |
| 1974 | West Germany | Helmut Schön |
| 1978 | Argentina | César Luis Menotti |
| 1982 | Italy | Enzo Bearzot |
| 1986 | Argentina | Carlos Bilardo |
| 1990 | West Germany | Franz Beckenbauer |
| 1994 | Brazil | Carlos Alberto Parreira |
| 1998 | France | Aimé Jacquet |
| 2002 | Brazil | Luiz Felipe Scolari |
| 2006 | Italy | Marcello Lippi |
| 2010 | Spain | Vicente del Bosque |
| 2014 | Germany | Joachim Löw |
| 2018 | France | Didier Deschamps |
A list compiled by Reddit user Moosoulini (and amended by me) with percentage of foreign-born national team managers in each soccer World Cup final tournament:
2018 World Cup: 12/32 foreign managers, 37.5%
2014 World Cup: 14/32 foreign managers, 43.75%
2010 World Cup: 12/32 foreign managers, 37.5%
2006 World Cup: 15/32 foreign managers, 46.88%
2002 World Cup: 8/32 foreign managers, 25%
1998 World Cup: 11/32 foreign managers, 34.38%
1994 World Cup: 7/24 foreign managers, 29.17%
1990 World Cup: 4/24 foreign managers, 16.67%
1986 World Cup: 5/24 foreign managers, 20.83%
1982 World Cup: 4/24 foreign managers, 16.67%
1978 World Cup: 1/16 foreign managers, 6.25%
1974 World Cup: 1/16 foreign managers, 6.25%
1970 World Cup: 3/16 foreign managers, 18.75%
1966 World Cup: 3/16 foreign managers, 18.75%
1962 World Cup: 3/16 foreign managers, 18.75%
1958 World Cup: 2/16 foreign managers, 12.5%
1954 World Cup: 5/16 foreign managers, 31.25%
1950 World Cup: 2/13 foreign managers, 15.38%
1938 World Cup: 4/15 foreign managers, 26.67%
1934 World Cup: 4/16 foreign managers, 25%
1930 World Cup: 3/13 foreign managers, 23.07%
All time total: 26.9% of foreign born national team managers.
Top photo: France national football team holding the World Cup trophy in 2018 / Photo provided by Kremlin.ru (CC-BY)
Permalink
Permalink