Brazil has more foreign coaches in the elite than major European leagues

The signing of the Portuguese Vítor Pereira by Corinthians, confirmed this Wednesday (23), brought another foreign coach to Brazilian football. Now, only in clubs that will compete in Serie A of the Brazilian Championship this year, there are already seven coaches who come from other countries.

In addition to the new Corinthians commander, there are two other Portuguese, Abel Ferreira and Paulo Sousa, who train Palmeiras and Flamengo, respectively.

After Portugal, Argentina has the biggest presence among the outsiders, with Juan Pablo Vojvoda, at Fortaleza, and “Turco” Mohamed, at Atlético-MG. The Paraguayan Gustavo Morínigo, from Coritiba, and the Uruguayan “Cacique” Medina, from Inter, complete the list.

With seven professionals, the national football elite brings together more foreigners than some of the major European leagues.

In Italian Serie A, for example, only five managers (from 20 clubs, ie, 25%) are from other nations: Serbia’s Sinisa Mihajlovic, at Bologna; the German Alexander Blessin, in Genoa; the Portuguese José Mourinho, in Roma; and Croatians Igor Tudor, in Hellas Verona, and Ivan Juric, in Turin.

Another 20-club league that has five outsiders in charge is LaLiga: Argentina’s Diego Simeone, at Atlético de Madrid, and Eduardo Coudet, at Celta de Vigo; Italians Alessio Lisci, at Levante, and Carlo Ancelotti, at Real Madrid; in addition to the Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, at Real Betis.

In France, foreign participation in the elite is slightly higher. Of the 20 teams that compete in Ligue 1, six (30%) bet on foreign names. They are the Argentines Jorge Sampaoli, at Olympique, and Mauricio Pochettino, at Paris Saint-Germain; the Spanish Óscar García, at Stade Reims; Dutchman Peter Bosz, at Lyon; and the Armenian Michel Der Zakarian, at the Stade Brestois.

The Bundesliga has more foreign coaches than the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A and is also a league with fewer participants. Therefore, the presence of eight non-German coaches, almost half of the 18 clubs (44%) that compete in the country’s first division, is noteworthy.

In Germany, there is the presence of two Swiss, Gerardo Seoane and Urs Fischer, at Bayer Leverkusen and at Union Berlin, respectively; two Austrians, Oliver Glasner, at Eintracht Frankfurt, and Adi Hütter, at Borussia Mönchengladbach; an Italian, Domenico Tedesco, at RB Leipzig; a Turk, Tayfun Korkut, at Hertha Berlin; a Dane, Bo Svensson, in Mainz; and the North American Pellegrino Matarazzo, in Stuttgart.

The world’s leading club league and home to the best coaches on the planet, the Premier League is the most foreign-influenced national league among the top five in Europe. There are 13 foreign coaches who command teams in England’s elite (out of 20 teams, which corresponds to 65%).

Three Germans occupy the technical area of ​​Premier teams: Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool, Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea and Ralf Rangnick at Manchester United. Then there is a greater presence of Spaniards, with two representatives: Pep Guardiola, from Manchester City, and Mikel Arteta (ex-assistant of Guardiola), from Arsenal.

Rounding out the list of English clubs are the Argentinian Marcelo Bielsa, from Leeds; the Dane Thomas Frank, from Brentford; Frenchman Patrick Vieira, from Crystal Palace; Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers of Leicester; the Austrian Ralph Hasenhüttl, from Southampton; the Italian Antonio Conte, from Tottenham; the Scotsman David Moyes, from West Ham; and the Portuguese Bruno Lage, from Wolverhampton.