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No team has ever won the men’s World Cup with a foreign coach.
From 1930 through 2022, all 22 champions were led by a coach from the same country. That streak is guaranteed to reach 23 in 2026: Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni and Spain’s Luis de la Fuente each coach their home nation.
De la Fuente was born in the Spanish wine region town of Haro, about three hours north of Madrid. Scaloni was born in the inland Argentine town of Pujato, just outside of Rosario.
USA TODAY examined the nationalities of the teams and coaches for every men’s World Cup winner and runner-up, including the 2026 matchup, using data from the Fjelstul World Cup Database and Transfermarkt.
Foreign manager success is so rare in the World Cup that just two of the 46 finalist teams were coached by someone from a different country.
Englishman George Raynor was the first to do so, leading Sweden to the final in 1958, where it lost 5-2 to Pele and Brazil.
The second was Austrian Ernst Happel, who guided the Netherlands to its second consecutive finals loss in 1978. Happel later coached Austria in 1992 but did not do so in a World Cup.
While both coaches this year are from their respective countries, both have deep ties to Spain. De la Fuente spent his entire 16-year professional career with Spanish clubs, the most of which was with Athletic Bilbao, just about an hour from his birth town.
Scaloni, meanwhile, joined Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna in late 1997 and spent eight years with the club. He later had stints with other Spanish clubs, Racing Santander and Mallorca. Scaloni did start his professional career in Argentina, however, and played for Newell’s Old Boys and Estudiantes there.
Having coached Argentina to the title in 2022, Scaloni is looking to become the second head coach to win back-to-back World Cups. Vittorio Pozzo previously did so when Italy won in 1934 and 1938. The other back-to-back run – by Brazil in 1958 and 1962 – was won with two different managers.
Methodology: Coaching nationalities for 1930 to 2022 obtained from the Fjelstul World Cup Database. Nationalities for Scaloni and de la Fuente obtained from Transfermarkt.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Argentina-Spain final extends a perfect World Cup coaching streak
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From 1930 through 2022, all 22 champions were led by a coach from the same country. That streak is guaranteed to reach 23 in 2026: Argentina’s Lionel Scaloni and Spain’s Luis de la Fuente each coach their home nation.
De la Fuente was born in the Spanish wine region town of Haro, about three hours north of Madrid. Scaloni was born in the inland Argentine town of Pujato, just outside of Rosario.
USA TODAY examined the nationalities of the teams and coaches for every men’s World Cup winner and runner-up, including the 2026 matchup, using data from the Fjelstul World Cup Database and Transfermarkt.
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Foreign manager success is so rare in the World Cup that just two of the 46 finalist teams were coached by someone from a different country.
Englishman George Raynor was the first to do so, leading Sweden to the final in 1958, where it lost 5-2 to Pele and Brazil.
The second was Austrian Ernst Happel, who guided the Netherlands to its second consecutive finals loss in 1978. Happel later coached Austria in 1992 but did not do so in a World Cup.
While both coaches this year are from their respective countries, both have deep ties to Spain. De la Fuente spent his entire 16-year professional career with Spanish clubs, the most of which was with Athletic Bilbao, just about an hour from his birth town.
Scaloni, meanwhile, joined Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna in late 1997 and spent eight years with the club. He later had stints with other Spanish clubs, Racing Santander and Mallorca. Scaloni did start his professional career in Argentina, however, and played for Newell’s Old Boys and Estudiantes there.
Having coached Argentina to the title in 2022, Scaloni is looking to become the second head coach to win back-to-back World Cups. Vittorio Pozzo previously did so when Italy won in 1934 and 1938. The other back-to-back run – by Brazil in 1958 and 1962 – was won with two different managers.
Methodology: Coaching nationalities for 1930 to 2022 obtained from the Fjelstul World Cup Database. Nationalities for Scaloni and de la Fuente obtained from Transfermarkt.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Argentina-Spain final extends a perfect World Cup coaching streak
Continue reading...
