How Spanish coaches became soccer's hottest commodity

BARCELONA, Spain — Spain's growing influence on world soccer will be on full display at next week's Ballon d'Or gala, the annual award ceremony honoring the sport's top performers.

Four of the five nominees for the Johan Cruyff Trophy for men's coach of the year are Spanish, as are two of the candidates for the women's trophy.

The shortlists reflect how Spain, after years of winning men's and women's titles, has turned into a major exporter of coaching expertise.

After decades in the shadow of Italian, English and German counterparts, Spanish coaches are now in high demand as both clubs and national teams seek to tap into the philosophy credited for Spain's success on the world stage.

Celebrated coaches like Pep Guardiola and Luis Enrique have brought Spain's possession-based style of play to Europe's top clubs, with some adjustments.

"The cornerstone to the high esteem that Spanish coaches are enjoying now is their training and, above all, their ability to adapt to different contexts in European and global soccer," Iván Cancela, who heads the Spanish soccer federation's coaching academy, told The Associated Press.

Both Guardiola and Luis Enrique are among the academy's graduates. The latter won last year's Cruyff award – named after the Dutch great – and is a top candidate again after winning a second consecutive Champions League title with Paris Saint-Germain.

Luis de la Fuente is another top contender after winning the World Cup with Spain this summer. He led Spain's Under-19 and Under-21 teams before taking over the senior side and has also taught courses for future managers organized by the Spanish federation.

"We are pioneers in coaching coaches for a long time now," De la Fuente said last month. "We are an example to follow when it comes to coaching coaches, it is the root cause of why our coaches stand out."

It was relatively unusual for Spanish coaches to work abroad until Rafael Benítez made the leap to Liverpool from Valencia in 2004.

Many have followed in his footsteps.

Spaniards now make up the largest nationality group among Premier League coaches, with five teams managed by Spaniards. Two of them are candidates for the men's Cruyff Award: Mikel Arteta at defending champion Arsenal and Unai Emery, who won the Europa League with Aston Villa last season.

Spain had 107 coaches employed abroad in first-and-second-division clubs last season, up from 99 the previous season, according to UEFA, European soccer's governing body. Portugal was second last season with 88.

Spaniards also are being recruited by other countries' national teams. More than a dozen national teams currently have Spanish coaches, including Qatar, Czech Republic, South Korea and the Netherlands, which recently hired former Barcelona star Xavi Hernández.

In a way, Xavi's move to the Netherlands is a full-circle moment because Spain traces its style of play back to Cruyff – who played for Barcelona in the 1970s and returned as coach in 1988.

Cruyff established a new playing philosophy in Spain based on maintaining possession and moving the ball with short passes between players constantly re-positioning themselves.

That style of play impacted how Spanish coaches spotted and developed talent.

"The Spanish player isn't the fastest, they aren't the strongest, or the tallest," Cancela said. "But in my opinion, and I say this without wanting to sound boastful, but I believe that the Spanish player is the one that best interprets the game and is the most talented."

Luis Aragonés, Spain coach from 2004 to 2008, made the possession-based approach a national trademark with a team built around midfield maestros Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

The so-called tiki-taka style lifted Spain to new heights with back-to-back European Championship titles in 2008 and 2012 and the country's first World Cup trophy in 2010.

It eventually hit a wall as Xavi and Iniesta retired and Spain failed to translate possession into goals. De la Fuente, who took over as head coach after Spain's quarterfinal exit at the 2022 World Cup, modernized the system with faster attacking transitions, using one-on-one wingers like Lamine Yamal and Nico Williams to challenge defenses from the flanks.

Spain is now back at the top, with the 2024 European Championship title followed by the World Cup trophy this year.

Meanwhile, Spain rose to become world No. 1 in women's soccer with a team built around a core of Barcelona players like Aitana Bonmatí and Alexia Putellas, now at London City Lionesses.

Barcelona coach Pere Romeu is among the five nominees for the coaching award for women's soccer along with fellow Spaniard and former Barcelona coach Jonatan Giráldez of OL Lyonnes. They faced off in May in the Women's Champions League final, which Barcelona won 4-0.

One thing that stands out with how Spanish coaches have been training their teams is the emphasis on drills involving the ball.

"You used to see lots of drills in training that were not using the ball, but in Spain the drills are all based on situations you can see in a real game," said Javier Cano, president of EFA Pro, an association of professional Spanish coaches. "That is the great advantage that Spain has had for the past two decades."

A good example is the Spanish "rondo," or piggy-in-the-middle drill, that Cruyff made central to training in Barcelona.

The drill, whereby a small group of players must pass the ball between them in a compact area while one or two teammates try to intercept it, enhanced the basic skills of using one touch to execute – as well as open slight angles to receive – short passes under pressure, again and again.

That clockwork efficiency in keeping the ball has been evident in Spain's World Cup victories for both men and women.

One of the quirks of this generation of elite Spanish coaches is how many of them come from northern Spain, specifically the Basque Country.

De la Fuente has family roots in the Basque Country, the home region of Emery and other coaches like Julen Lopetegui — who led Real Madrid and Spain — and José Mendilibar.

Arteta, Chelsea coach Xabi Alonso and Andoni Iraola of Liverpool played together as youngsters at Antiguoko, an amateur club in the Basque city of San Sebastian.

Antiguoko vice-president Roberto Montiel perfectly recalled the trio of young boys. Even though he noticed their talent, he barely could have imagined they would all reach such heights as coaches.

"It's down to a little bit of everything," Montiel told the AP. "We were lucky that these three great people and players coincided at our club. Then there is the DNA of Antiguoko and the Basque society that means we are all super competitive and share the passion for soccer."

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