Top 5 World Football Coaches Who Never Played Professionally

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Who says you have to be a footballer to become a manager? It's nonsense, and that's why we're bringing you the top five world football managers who never played professionally.

We've also included some honourable mentions, a couple of notable non-inclusions and a short passage on something well worth your attention in Portugal.

Enjoy the slideshow!

Honourable Mentions, Notable Non-Inclusions

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These guys played very small samples of professional football:

Jose Mourinho—played for Rio Ave, Belenenses and others

Sven-Goran Eriksson—played with Karlskoga and others

 

Honourable Mentions:

Avram Grant—started coaching at 18 in Israel

Andre Villas-Boas—on his way to the top after success at Porto and Tottenham.

Ralf Rangnick—never made it past the Stuttgart amateur team

 

Side note:

In Portugal it's quickly becoming the norm for managers to not play first but rise quickly through the ranks after coaching junior teams with success.

Vitor Pereira (FC Porto), Leonardo Jardim (Braga) and Pedro Caixinha (Nacional) don't have any playing experience but remain some of the finest young coaches in the SuperLiga.

Arsene Wenger

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Arsene Wenger played for local village and amateur clubs until he obtained a Manager's Diploma in 1981.

To be fair, you can see he was always more of an intellectual than a doer, and with his methodical revolution of footballing dieting, his brilliant mind was justified.

Did you know the Frenchman managed Japanse side Nagoya Grampus Eight before joining Arsenal?

Bill Struth

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Bill Struth was only the second-ever manager of Rangers and, as was custom back in 1920, led the club for 34 consecutive years.

He won 14 Scottish titles in a 19-year period and ended Rangers' cup woes by lifting the premier domestic knockout trophy in 1928.

There's a bronze statue of this legendary man at Ibrox Stadium.

Gerard Houllier

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Gerard Houllier followed a pretty traditional academic route.

He went to University, completed his part-time degree and eventually became the headmaster of École Normale d'Arras (a school in France).

At the age of 26, he left his post to become player-manager of amaeur club Le Touquet, and from there his good work took him up the ladder.

Carlos Alberto Parreira

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If you ever need proof you don't have to be anywhere near playing football to get a job as a manager, check Carlos Alberto Parreira's CV.

He's managed five different nations and won a FIFA World Cup with one of them (Brazil), and he also saved Fluminese from bankruptcy and went on to win a title with them.

His first job was as a fitness coach at São Cristóvão. 

Arrigo Sacchi

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Arrigo Sacchi stepped into a high-profile role at AC Milan after stints from Fabio Capello and Nils Liedholm.

He faced severe scrutiny from the press, and many didn't trust him due to his lack of playing experience, but his response to the journalists that questioned his ability is world famous: "A jockey doesn't have to have been born a horse."

He almost single-handedly abolished man-marking in Italian football, moved away from the libero and instead introduced the zonal pressing we sometimes see today.

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