But not only Spanish coaches populate the best clubs in the world. Also others like Unai Emery, Marcelino, Iraola, Lopetegui, Óscar García, Javi Gracia, Albert Riera… With more or less luck currently (special mention deserves the moment of Emery’s Aston Villa, who finally, in his fourth attempt, is convincing abroad), leagues outside our borders are increasingly trusting the Spanish coach . In fact, Spain is the country that exports the most coaches to the five major leagues with seven, two more than Italy and four more than Portugal.
The golden era of Spanish football, with years in which Barcelona and the National Team swept international competitions, has been key to boosting the reputation of coaches trained in Spain. However, as Domènec Torrent (Guardiola’s assistant until 2018 and now active first coach) points out to AS, it is a trend that is not always correct: “Abroad, Spanish coaches are expected to have the style of those years. But They are very wrong, because just because you are Spanish does not mean that you really feel that way of playing.. But our coaches are increasingly going there.” Furthermore, as Torrent points out, it is a trend that had already been seen previously with the Brazilians at the beginning of the century or with the Dutch at the end of the previous one.
The coach fashion has already happened with the Dutch and the Brazilians
With some obvious exceptions, such as Xabi Alonso, who likes to have players in front of the ball line and a lower block to facilitate spaces in attack than City’s player, for example, who is used to reaching the baseline. and look for the shot with the back pass, Spanish coaches are growing more and more contaminated (whether for better or worse) by the Spanish style. Although to apply it abroad, in addition to the appropriate parts, patience is required. “At Flamengo we were aiming for the triplet and they kicked us out,” laments Torrent. “Our style can be adapted to any league in the world, but you have to take into account the idiosyncrasies of each country. “Greece, Türkiye, Brazil… they want immediate results.”
But Domènec Torrent (assistant at Barcelona, Bayern and City; coach at Girona, New York City, Flamengo and Galatasaray) is able to recognize a pattern in Spanish coaches that is what they like more and more. “With the experience I have, I do see that the Spanish coach is one step ahead of many countries“. And he makes a comparison that illustrates the situation very well: “Just like when we started in basketball we watched the NBA, now the world watches us”.
José Luis Mendilibar agrees with this point of view. “Tactically, the coach and Spanish football are one step ahead. Also because of the type of footballer that the Spanish is. Tactics suit a quality player more than physical appearance,” he explains to AS. And he also believes that Spain is a model to follow: “The Dutch were the ones who revolutionized football. When I started training in Athletic’s youth teams, they sent us videos of what PSV and Ajax were doing. And we were all infected. Now there will be many people who come to Spain to see us“.