That Portuguese technicians are on the rise in Brazil has been a topic discussed in round tables for some time. But, at least in the World Cup, Portugal’s coaches’ prestige is at a low ebb.
If for the first time in history there is no Brazilian coach (not even in the national team), the World Cup will only see a Portuguese coach on the bench. And it’s not even running your country.
Carlos Queiroz, who was born in Mozambique and is a naturalized Portuguese citizen, will manage the Ghana national team. The African team is in Group L and debuts on the 17th against Panama. Then they play against England (23rd) and Croatia (27th).
In Brazilian territory, Abel Ferreira has been an untouchable figure at Palmeiras since 2020. Jorge Jesus is almost a god for Flamengo fans, and other names have also been highly valued in recent years such as Artur Jorge (Libertadores champion with Botafogo), Luís Castro (now at Grêmio), Leonardo Jardim (left Cruzeiro and went to Flamengo). Not to mention two others who also arrived at a high (and left at a low) such as António Oliveira and Vitor Pereira.
According to data from Opta, a sports statistics company, Argentina is the country with the largest number of coaches in the World Cup that starts on the 11th in North America (United States, Mexico and Canada).
Argentines will lead Argentina (Lionel Scaloni is looking for two), Colombia (Néstor Lorenzo), Ecuador (Sebastián Beccacece), Paraguay (Gustavo Alfaro), the United States (Mauricio Pochettino) and Uruguay (Marcelo Bielsa).
France comes in second place, probably also influenced by language. In addition to the French team, with Didier Deschamps, coaches from the European country were hired by the Democratic Republic of Congo (Sébastien Desabre), Belgium (Rudi Garcia), Tunisia (Sabri Lamouchi) and Haiti (Sébastien Migné).
There are other cases similar to that in Portugal. Spain, Morocco and the United States are coached by foreigners, but there are coaches born in these countries leading other teams in the World Cup. And four-time champion Italy, who once again missed out on a World Cup, will have three representatives. The most famous are Carlo Ancelotti, in Brazil, and the 2006 world champion defender, Fabio Cannavaro, for Uzbekistan.
Check below the ranking of World Cup coaches by country
6 technicians
- Argentina (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, United States and Uruguay)
5 technicians
- France (Belgium, Congo, France, Haiti and Tunisia)
4 technicians
- Spain (Panama, Portugal, Qatar and Spain)
3 technicians
2 technicians
1 technician
