May 2, 2020 – Reputable British magazine FourFourTwo has compiled a list of the 100 greatest coaches of all time. Hajduk legend Tomislav Ivic is among them.
Gol.hr reports that FourFourTwo has put together its list of the 100 greatest coaches of all time. Being one of the most respected football magazines, this list has drawn a lot of attention. The main criteria were trophies won, tactical ideas and motivational abilities.
While the list has not yet been published in full, Hajduk announced that the English football magazine named Tomislav Ivic as the only Croatian in this truly elected society.
Ivic was born in Split on June 30, 1933. As a Hajduk coach, he won the Yugoslavian Championships in the 1973/74, 1974/75 and 1978/79 seasons, and the National Cup in 1972, 1973, 1974 and 1975/76 season.
He coached the biggest clubs in the world, won titles and cups, and with the Portuguese Porto in 1987, won the UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup.
He received the golden badge and charter of the city of Paris, which he received from the hand of Mayor Jacq Chirac in 1990. He passed away in Split, June 24, 2011.
The Torcida award ‘Hajduk Heart’, by which fans select a club player who showed the most combative and sacrificial play during the season, was awarded to a non-Hajduk player for the first time. Namely, it was awarded precisely to Tomislav Ivic posthumously in 2011.
Last year, Ivic was ranked 42nd in the best football coaches of all time in by the France Football selection.
While Ivic is ranked 60th on the FourFourTwo list, Gol.hr reports that the magazine put former Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson in first. The Scottish coach has won a total of 49 trophies in his coaching career with Manchester United and Aberdeen.
With Manchester United, he was the Premier League champion 13 times and European champion twice. He is the manager with the longest working experience in the history of the club from Old Trafford (from 1986 to 2013).
Behind Ferguson were two famous Dutchmen, Rinus Michels and Johan Cruyff. The two are considered by many to be the coaches who have most influenced the development of the football game and have been very successful. Michels created the great Ajax in the 70s and Cruyff Barcelona in the 90s.
Pep Guardiola is the only current coach to rank in the top ten. Guardiola was placed in the high fifth place.
Only one non-European coach is among the top ten. This is the famous Helenio Herrera, who was born in Argentina but later took French nationality. The great Ukrainian Valery Lobanovsky is the only one among the top ten to come from the former Eastern Bloc.
Scotland has as many as three representatives among the top ten. In addition to Ferguson, there is Matt Busby and Bill Shankley. Busby created the great Manchester United in the 50s and 60s, and Shankley Liverpool in the 60s and early 70s.
Barcelona boasts having the most coaches in one career period: Michels, Cruyff and Guardiola. In the top ten is Arrigo Sachi of Italy and Ernst Happel of Austria.
Jose Mourinho failed to make it into the top 10. The Portuguese manager ranked 12th, while, for example, perhaps the most promising German expert Juergen Klopp is currently 30th.
Other notable names include Brian Clough in 11th, Vicente del Bosque in 15th, Ottmar Hitzfeld in 17th, Carlo Ancelotti in 18th, Louis van Gaal in 20th, Bob Paisley in 22nd, Arsene Wenger in 23rd, Fabio Capello in 24th, and Diego Simeone in 43rd.
The full list will be released in the June 2020 edition of the FourFourTwo magazine.
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