22 World Football Coaches We All Want to Play for
If you were a professional footballer, who would you want to play for?
There are literally hundreds of managers in world football, all with positive and negative characteristics. And the thousands of professional players find different coaches more palatable than others.
But even if we account for differences of opinion, there are still a bunch of coaches most people would want to play for. This is a list of those coaches.
It's hard to say one thing that makes all these coaches likeable, so we won't. Really, it's a bunch of different things, as you'll see.
Let's get started.
Pep Guardiola
1 of 22Team: Barcelona
Why we want to play for him: He's suave. He's sophisticated. He's cool.
And, of course, if you were playing for Pep Guardiola, you'd be a Barcelona player. Right now it doesn't get any better than that.
Andre Villas-Boas
2 of 22Team: Chelsea
Why we want to play for him: AVB is only 34 years old. Playing for him would kind of be like playing for one of the guys.
So it would almost be like having a player-manager, except, you know, he wouldn't play.
Roberto Carlos
3 of 22Team: Anzhi Makhachkala
Why we want to play for him: Speaking of player-managers, Roberto Carlos is one.
Player-managers are always cool. Just ask baseball.
Arsene Wenger
4 of 22Team: Arsenal
Why we want to play for him: Arsene Wenger has made a career out of taking relatively unknown talents (Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Patrick Vieira) and turning them into world-class stars.
Sure, we're all unknown now. But if we started playing for Le Professeur?
Sir Alex Ferguson
5 of 22Team: Manchester United
Why we want to play for him: Wenger is cool, but Ferguson is even cooler—by virtue of success.
Sure, Wenger has won three titles on a budget. Ferguson and United have won 12.
Success is always attractive.
Jose Mourinho
6 of 22Team: Real Madrid
Why we want to play for him: If you call yourself the Special One, that's going to get under the skin of a lot of media types.
But for players, it's a sign of confidence, and confidence is great in a manager.
Especially when you can back it up.
Kevin Keegan
8 of 22Team: Unattached
Why we want to play for him: King Kev hasn't managed since 2008, but it's not for lack of awesomeness.
Like Maradona, Keegan never gives you a dull moment.
Michael Kinahan (Not Pictured)
9 of 22Team: Unattached
Why we want to play for him: You probably haven't heard of Michael Kinahan. But once you've read about him, you'll want to play for him, too.
The Green Death? That kind of commitment is usually reserved for psycho fans.
Unfortunately, pictures of Kinahan are hard to find. So we gave you another one of Kevin Keegan.
Vicente Del Bosque
10 of 22Team: Spain
Why we want to play for him: The mustache.
Plus, there's the whole part about winning the World Cup.
Remi Garde
11 of 22Team: Olympique Lyonnais
Why we want to play for him: Remi Garde is supposed to be the protege of Arsene Wenger.
If that means water bottle abuse in Garde's future, we're on board.
Sam Allardyce
13 of 22Team: West Ham United
Why we want to play for him: Because he's said he'd walk over burning coals to get the England job. That would be enjoyable to watch.
And because he's fat. Fat guys are awesome.
John Colby
14 of 22Team: Allies
Why we want to play for him: John Colby (played by Michael Caine) coached the Allies to a draw against the Nazis in Escape to Victory (known simply as just Victory here in America), but if not for a dodgy offside call, the Allies would have won.
No matter. They still escaped the concentration camp.
That's some serious multi-tasking.
Guus Hiddink
15 of 22Team: Unattached
Why we want to play for him: It doesn't matter where he goes. Guus Hiddink always gets the best out of his teams. Seriously, he took South Korea to the World Cup semifinals (admittedly on their home soil).
And he even has a stadium named after him.
Brendan Rodgers
16 of 22Team: Swansea City
Why we want to play for him: It might not sound like much, but Swansea are 13th in the Premier League right now. For a team that was at the bottom of the entire football league less than a decade ago, that's awesome.
Rodgers has a lot to do with that. And his nickname is Buck Rodgers. Can't beat that.
Antonio Conte
17 of 22Team: Juventus
Why we want to play for him: As a player, Conte was known for his commitment to the cause.
That's a great trait for a manager to have.
Chester
18 of 22Team: Ladybugs
Why we want to play for him: If he was good enough for the kid from SeaQuest DSV (RIP, by the way), Chester is good enough for us.
Jürgen Klinsmann
19 of 22Team: USA
Why we want to play for him: This is an American website. Do we need another reason?
Joachim Löw
20 of 22Team: Germany
Why we want to play for him: Once he was Klinsmann's understudy. Now Löw is the main man in Germany.
What can we say? He just seems like a cool dude.
Phil Weston
21 of 22Team: The Gladiators
Why we want to play for him: Well, we would only want to play for Old School-era Phil Weston, not Step Brothers-era Phil Weston.
Giovanni Trapattoni
22 of 22Team: Republic of Ireland
Why we want to play for him: When Ireland wins, Gio Trap sometimes says crazy things.
That's fine. He kind of reminds us of that crazy uncle we all have.
