For all its parity with the other three big European leagues, the Bundesliga coaches have had considerably less sway in influencing other European big leagues.
Felix Magath’s success with three Bundesliga teams should have seen his stock rise across Europe but has Chelsea come knocking? He is moving to Schalke. Juergen Klinsmann mentioned as a successor to Jose Mourinho at Chelsea finally landed up at Bayern before being fired. He is now being touted as Ralf Ragnick’s successor at Hoffenheim. Ottmar Hitzfeld surely one of the biggest names in coaching circles is managing Switzerland after a lifetime spent coaching in the Bundesliga. Otto Rehhagel spent 14 successful years heading Werder where he built up the club as a force that challenged Bayern. Despite that enviable resume, Rehhagel never coached another big league club, taking up as Greece’s national coach in 2001. Bernd Schuster’s exit from Real last season, ended German representation in the top three European leagues.
The flip side of all this insularity is the inveterate parody of the itinerant globe trotting German coach. Jupp Derwall in 1984, after retiring as the German national coach headed down to Turkish club Galtasaray, revolutionizing the sport in that country. Over the years Berti Vogts, Bernd Stange, and that most recognizable of names, Otto Pfister have made a career of coaching teams all over the world. These modern day versions of Sir Richard Burton have struck out over the global terrain with little political compunction and financial compensation to coach a polyglot of teams.
The relative invisibility of German coaching success is remarkable when you consider other countries and their coaches. Italy’s national team success seems to be rooted in home soil ardency. Their players are loath to leave but the coaches seem to have embraced the rigours of English football. West Ham lured Gianfranco Zola away from his coaching duties as assistant manager of the U21 Italy team to install him as manager. Zola was a favourite amongst Chelsea fans in his playing career under Gianluca Vialli, another Italian. Carlo Ancelotti is now being mentioned as a replacement for Guus Hiddink, a Dutchman, who built his reputation at PSV. Hiddink’s success with Chelsea is a rebuilding process started under Claudio Ranieri in 2001, a base that Roman Abramovich could build on and Jose Mourinho perfected. Arsenal is coached by Arsene Wenger, a Frenchman, who previously coached AS Monaco. Rafa Benitez, a Spaniard, spent five years at Valencia before leaving for Liverpool.
The situation in La Liga and the Serie is no different. The foreign representation is less overall but the Liga employs coaches like Hugo Sanchez of Mexico and Manuel Pellegrini of Chile, arguably because of linguistic connections. Barca broke a recent stranglehold of Dutch coaches with Pep Guardiola and before Schuster, Real Madrid employed Fabio Capello and Carlos Queiroz. The Serie has been traditionally tough ground to break so it is not surprising to see Jose Mourinho as the only foreign representative. Mourinho, Hiddink, and Wenger, each of them started their coaching careers in smaller European leagues to reach its upper echelons underscores the paucity of German equivalence.
Here I end with a caveat: If it is any cold comfort, English coaches are infinitely worse off in any meaningful representation and impact outside of the Premiership. Even that is due to borrowed Scottish lustre. The big English moment ended when Bobby Robson left Barca in 1997.