The glory of world soccer will be played in Qatar 2022. For four years, the world waited to know if France will be able to repeat a feat that has not happened since 1962 or if there will be a new National Team to take the place it won at the Russia 2018 World Cup.
The 32 places offered by FIFA for this tournament to its 211 affiliated federations are already fully occupied, with the last-minute inclusion of Wales, Australia and Costa Rica, which joined the 29 National Teams that managed to qualify during the World Cup Qualifiers, a long journey that forces many to fall by the wayside.
So, while all eyes will be on the players who match by match will fight to lead their National Teams to the final game on December 18 at the Lusail Stadium, there is a group of men, 32 specifically, who are also responsible for the success or failure of the teams. The masterminds, the helmsmen, the managers of the qualifiers for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Get to know them.
The 32 managers seeking glory at theFIFA World Cup Qatar 2022
Among the select group of lucky and talented head coaches who led their National Team to reach Qatar 2022, there is a wide variety of particularities. Both those who are just about to make their debut in the World Cup, such as Luis Enrique of Spain, and those who already have extensive experience in this tournament, such as Luis Fernando Suarez of Costa Rica.
Also returning to the FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022 will be the coach who led his squad to the top of the world stage in the previous edition, France’s Didier Deschamps, who won the tournament as a player and is now looking to do it twice as a coach.
Qatar – Felix Sanchez Bas (Spain, 46 years old)
The first Spaniard to coach Qatar is already a legend in the host country of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, having led them to their first Asian Cup in 2019. He took charge of the senior team after previously managing the U19, U20 and U23 teams. As a curious fact, he was not a professional footballer and started in the world of soccer at FC Barcelona as part of the youth coaching staff.
Ecuador – Gustavo Alfaro (Argentina, 60years old)
He arrived in Ecuador in August 2020 and led them to return to a FIFA World Cup after failing to qualify for Russia 2018. He has spent practically his entire career in Argentina, except for a 5-month stint in Saudi Arabia with Al-Ahli. It will be his first experience in this tournament, as he has never coached a National Team before.
Senegal – Aliou Cissé (Senegal, 46 years old)
The coach with the third longest cycle among the 32 National Teams of Qatar 2022. Cissé coached his country at Russia 2018, where he managed one win, one draw and one loss. Led Senegal to the most recent Africa Cup of Nations championship.
Netherlands – Louis van Gaal (Netherlands, 71years old)
The oldest coach to coach in Qatar 2022. Van Gaal is going for his second World Cup with the Netherlands, in the previous one, Brazil 2014, he led the Oranje to third place. His National Team hopes that his experience and winning inertia will finally make them take the step they were unable to take in 1974, 1978 and 2014. It is her third stint in the Dutch bench.
England – Gareth Southgate (England, 52years old)
An atypical case, as his experience in the dugout is limited to England’s youth teams. He came to the Senior team as an interim after Sam Allardyce’s dismissal due to a corruption scandal. He led the Three Lions to fourth place at Russia 2018, so Qatar 2022 will be his second FIFA World Cup in charge. He was runner-up at the 2020 European Cup.
Iran – Dragan Skocic (Croatia, 53 years old)
With only a few months to face the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022Dragan Skocic was sacked as Iranian National Team’s manager, after taking the job on February 2020. Even so, one week the announcement, Iranian Federation reappointed him.
United States – Gregg Berhalter (United States, 49years old)
He previously managed Hammarby of Sweden, and then Colombus Crew of MLS. He was targeted as USMNT coach in December 2018. He managed to return the Stars and Stripes to a World Cup after failure in the Qualifiers in Russia. He won the Gold Cup and the Concacaf Nations League.
Wales – Rob Page (Wales, 48years old)
The coach who will arrive at Qatar 2022 with less time in charge, after only being hired on June 21 to replace Ryan Giggs, who left the Wales national team due to legal problems. Page has no experience as a senior coach or in the First Division. He was capped by Wales during his playing days.
Argentina – Lionel Scaloni (Argentina, 44 years old)
Another case of an interim that turns into senior management. Lionel Scaloni retired just in 2015 and in 2018 he was the manager of Argentina’s U20. After the dismissal of Jorge Sampaoli he took charge of the senior team and his good results made him stay on the bench. The expectation on him and his team increased after breaking 28 years of title drought of the Albiceleste with the conquest of the Copa America 2021. He played the FIFA World Cup Germany 2006.
Saudi Arabia – HervéRenard (France, 54years old)
Qatar 2022 will be his second FIFA World Cup after coaching Morocco at Russia 2018. In his career he has coached more National Teams than clubs: Zambia, Angola, Ivory Coast, Morocco and Saudi Arabia. He has won the African Cup twice.
Mexico – Gerardo Martino (Argentina, 60years old)
He coached Paraguay during the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, where he led them to the best performance in their history by advancing to the Quarterfinals. He also coached his native Argentina and FC Barcelona. With the Mexico National Team he won the 2019 Gold Cup and was a finalist in the 2021 edition and the first Concacaf Nations League.
Poland – Czeslaw Michniewicz (Poland, 52 years old)
In January 2022, he was selected as Paulo Sousa’s replacement as Poland’s manager due to his status as head coach and champion of the Polish league with Legia Warszawa. His teamqualified to Qatar 2022 after eliminating Sweden in the European Playoff. His coaching experience is limited to the Polish league and the U21 category of the Polish National team.
France – Didier Deschamps (France, 54years old)
The longest-serving manager of his National Team that will compete in Qatar 2022. Deschamps is one of 3 people who have been champions both as a player and as a coach. He manages an exceptional group of players that could lead him to equal Vittorio Pozzo as the only coach to win the World Cup twice.
Denmark – Kasper Hjulmand (Denmark, 50 years old)
He is a Danish coach who, except for less than a year’s experience with Mainz 05 in Germany, had managed locally. As coach of his National Team, he raised expectations by taking it to the semifinals of the European Cup 2020, which he hopes to sustain or exceed in Qatar 2022.
Tunisia – Jalel Kadri (Tunisia, 50 years)
Only in January 2022 did he move from assistant coach to senior manager following the dismissal of Mondher Kebaier. Under his tutelage, Tunisia qualified for the upcoming FIFA World Cup for only the sixth time in the tournament’s 92-year history. He has experience at club level in Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Libya and the United Arab Emirates.
Australia – Graham Arnold (Australia, 59 years old)
It will be his first experience in coaching at the FIFA World Cup. In his 12-year career as a manager, he has won the Australian league and cup, which led him to become head coach of his country’s National Team at the end of Russia 2018. He had a 2-year stint as assistant coach of the Socceroos.
Spain – Luis Enrique (Spain, 52 years old)
Overall, this will be his fourth appearance in a FIFA World Cup, after playing in USA 1994, France 1998 and Korea-Japan 2002. A multi-champion with FC Barcelona, he coached Spain for 8 months but stepped down due to family problems and took over again in November 2019.
Germany – Hans-DieterFlick (Germany, 57 years old)
He is part of the German trend of assistant coaches taking over after the departure of managers. Flick served as Joachim Low’s assistant for eight years, including winning the World Cup Brazil 2014. After a winning spell at Bayern Munich he took over as head coach of Germany. Qatar 2022 will be his third experience in this tournament, after taking part in South Africa 2010 and the aforementioned 2014 edition. The curious fact is that as a player he was never selected for the German national team.
Japan – Hajime Moriyasu (Japan, 54 years old)
Qatar 2022 will be his second FIFA World Cup experience, as he was assistant coach to Akira Nishino, who coached Japan at Russia 2018. He took over the top job in August 2018. He came close to leading his team to the Asian Cup conquest in 2019, but lost the final to the host country of the upcoming World Cup.
Costa Rica – Luis Fernando Suárez – (Colombia, 62 years old)
All the National Teams he has coached have qualified for the FIFA World Cup: Ecuador, Honduras and now Costa Rica. Curiously, he has never coached his own country. Thus, Qatar 2022 will be the third edition in which he participates. His record in this tournament is 7 matches coached: 5 wins and 2 losses.
Belgium – Roberto Martínez (Spain, 49 years old)
He will be the fifth longest serving manager at Qatar 2022, after taking the reins of the Belgium National Team in August 2016. He is the Red Devils’ second longest-serving manager, and after leading them to third place at Russia 2018, he knows that the only thing that could improve their performance is the championship.
Canada -John Herdman (England, 47 years old)
One of the key men responsible for the resurgence of the Canada National Team after 36 years of obscurity. Herdman coached in a couple of FIFA World Cups but women’s with New Zealand. Before taking over the Canadian men’s National Team, he coached the women’s team for seven years, which he led at the 2015 World Cup held in his country. Thus, Qatar 2022 will be his first experience in the men’s game but fourth overall.
Morocco – Vacant
He coached Algeria at the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014 and led them to the best performance in their history by qualifying them to the Round of 16 where they were eliminated by the then future champions of the edition, Germany. Unfortunately, there is a trend on his career: he takes National Teams to World Cups but he is sacked few months before the kickoff of the tournament. This happened with Ivory Coast, then with Japan and now with Morocco.
Croatia – Zlatko Dalic (Croatia, 56 years old)
He has experience managing clubs in Croatia, Albania, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. It was until 2017 that he took the reins of his country, and his success was complete as he led them to the runner-up spot at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia. In Qatar 2022, with a more mature team that qualified for the World Cup without having to go to the European Playoffs, he will be looking to leave a good impression again.
Brazil – Tité (Brazil, 61 years old)
Born Adenor Leonardo Bacchi, he is an experienced manager, multi-champion with several Brazilian clubs. After the dismissal of Dunga, he took over as head coach of the Canarinha in June 2016. In the 2018 World Cup, he reached the Quarter Finals, so in Qatar 2022 he will seek to break Brazil’s 20-year drought without winning this tournament.
Serbia – Dragan Stojkovic (Serbia, 57 years old)
A curious case: as a player he played the World Cups of Italy 1990 and France 1998 with Yugoslavia. After his retirement in 2001, he served as president of the Serbian Football Association and then of Red Star Belgrade. His career as a manager started until 2008 with Nagoya Grampus of Japan. It was in March 2021 that he took charge of his National Team, which he led until Qatar 2022, which will be his third experience in this tournament.
Switzerland – Murat Yakin (Switzerland, 48 years old)
As a player, he was a Swiss national team member from 1994 to 2004, just the time when his country only played in the World Cup in the USA, in which he was not called up. Then, as a manager, he has been in charge of clubs in Switzerland and Russia. In August 2021 he took over as head coach of the National Team and managed to qualify for Qatar 2022 without going through the European Playoffs.
Cameroon – Rigobert Song (Cameroon, 46 years old)
In March 2022, he was appointed manager of the Cameroon National Team, his first experience as head coach. As a player, he was a national team player for 17 years, during which he made 137 appearances at international level, including the FIFA World Cups of 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2010 (he is the third Cameroonian with the most appearances in this tournament, with 9, behind Francois Omam-Biyik and Roger Milla).
Portugal – Fernando Santos (Portugal, 68 years old)
Santos is the longest serving manager of the Portugal National Team (September 2014). Also, he is the most successful in the history of that country, since under his management, supported by the quality of Cristiano Ronaldo and company, won the European Cup 2016 and the Nations League 2018-2019. In Qatar 2022, he will coach his third World Cup (Brazil 2014 was with Greece) and wants to settle his only debt: a performance beyond the Round of 16 that he reached in Russia 2018.
Ghana – Otto Addo (Ghana, 47 years old)
He assumed the position in February 2022, after serving as assistant coach to Milovan Rajevac. The senior team of Ghana, his native country, will be his first experience as a manager at the elite level. As a player, he was part of the historic Ghana squad that played in the FIFA World Cup for the first time at Germany 2006 (2 appearances).
Uruguay -Diego Alonso (Uruguay, 47 years old)
Replacing the legendary Oscar Washington Tabarez is a very complicated mission and Diego Alonso took over in December 2021. To begin with, the way in which he rescued Uruguay in the Conmebol Qualifiers and led them to qualify for Qatar 2022, which will be his first experience in a World Cup, as he never competed in one as a player.
Korea Republic – Paulo Bento (Portugal, 53 years old)
Never in the history of South Korea has a coach completed a full World Cup cycle, and Paulo Bento has done it and become the longest-serving manager of the National Team. He coached his native Portugal at the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014, where they failed to advance from the group stage, and played 3 matches at Korea-Japan 2002.