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Tips to Winning the WC: #7 Don't Hire the Previous Winner

The moment has come...Vittorio Pozzo of Italy is the only man who has ever coached two different teams to the World Cup title.  And the former Azzuri manager accomplished this feat in the 1930’s in two consecutive Cup runs with Italy.  Of course the game has changed a lot since then and in the modern day over 200 different nations compete for a spot in the World Cup final; whereas the first few decades of the World Cup only a dozen or two teams were considered for the event.

But the point is that only one man has ever won more then one World Cup title in the entire history of the event and that feat was achieved well over 70 years ago. 

So if you are wondering why Lippi and Italy failed to defend their crown this year then look no further then this statistic.  And to tell you the truth like any of these tips there are some loopholes.  In fact it is rare for a coach to stick around to remain the national team for over a four year span these days and in several cases a coach is brought in for only a few months before they are let go.  Also the general rate of replacing football coaches due to underachieving these days is through the roof and I think it is safe to say just as many managers are leaving their squad right now as there are sticking around.

The life expectancy of the coach has shortened in the last few decades due to increased pressure put on side by the media and in some cases politics (like Nigeria), but if you are considering a coach that has won the World Cup before then please don’t.  Because one thing about the coach that has experienced sport’s greatest triumph is that they likely will never do it again.  Unless their name is Vittorio Pozzo of course.

But then again hiring the former winning coach is probably better then hiring a coach with little to no experience as a professional manager.  In other words Dunga and Maradona didn’t win anything either.     

Creative Commons License photo credit: Abdullah AL-Naser