He and Carlos Alberto Parreira are the only two people to have coached five different teams at the World Cup: Mexico (1986), Costa Rica (1990), the United States (1994), Nigeria (1998), and China (2002). He is also the first coach to take four different teams beyond the first round – Mexico (1986), Costa Rica(1990), the United States (1994), and Nigeria (1998) – earning the nickname of "Miracle Worker", first given to him by Alan Rothenberg, then president of the United States Soccer Federation. In total Milutinović has coached eight different national football teams.