This is a list of all managers who have appeared in the FIFA World Cup, the most prestigious tournament for national teams in association football. Over 370 individuals have managed or co-managed a team in at least one match in the competition.
Statistics and notable achievements
Carlos Alberto Parreira is the manager who has taken part in the most editions of the tournament, six from 1982 to 2010.[1] Parreira also shares with Bora Milutinović the record for most different nations managed in the World Cup, with five.[2]Helmut Schön holds the records for both most matches managed (25) and most matches won (16),[3] all with West Germany in 1966–1978.
The youngest manager to appear in the competition is Juan José Tramutola, who co-managed Argentina at age 27 in 1930,[7] while the oldest is Otto Rehhagel, who was in charge of Greece at age 71 in 2010.[8]
While many of the participating nations have on one or more occasions employed foreign managers for the World Cup, the two teams with the most appearances, Brazil and Germany, have always been led by natives. On the other side of the spectrum, Ecuador is the team with the most participations always coached by foreigners – four, always with managers coming from fellow South American countries. No foreign manager has ever won the World Cup, and only two have reached the final match: George Raynor of England, with Sweden in 1958, and Ernst Happel of Austria, with the Netherlands in 1978.[9]
By team
Below, the teams are listed in decreasing order of number of appearances in the World Cup.
Key: T – tournaments appeared in; N – different nations managed; M – matches; W – wins; D – draws; L – losses.
As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
^ abcdAlthough Serbia and Montenegro was represented at the 2006 World Cup, the country had ceased to exist a few days before the start of the tournament as its two constituent republics had become independent states, so Ratomir Dujković and Ilija Petković were legally Serbians at the time.
^ abCha Bum-kun was sacked after two matches, and was replaced by Kim Pyung-seok for the remaining match.[10]
^ abDuring the tournament Bento was suspended for one match, for which his assistant Costa took over as stand-in manager.
^ abBeattie quit after the first match, and was replaced by a selection committee for the remaining match.[citation needed]
^ abWalker was officially only an acting manager. The official manager Matt Busby was seriously injured after the Munich air disaster earlier in 1958.[11]
^ abParreira was sacked after two matches, and was replaced by Al-Kharashy for the remaining match.[12]
^ abKasperczak was sacked after two matches, and was replaced by Selmi for the remaining match.[13]
