80 days to the World Cup: Winning boils down to where your manager was born
The countdown to the 2026 World Cup is on! Each day ahead of the tournament’s return to North America, Yahoo Sports will highlight an insight or moment that showcases just how grand the world’s biggest sporting spectacle has become — even beyond the expanded field of this year’s global event. World Cup champions have a few of things in common: elite talent, a winning style of play, some good luck, and a manager who hails from that country.
Eight nations have won the World Cup since the quadrennial tournament was first held in 1930. Twenty-one men have managed those sides and share the fact that they were born in the country they managed. Draft your Yahoo Fantasy Baseball team for the 2026 MLB Season From Argentina's Lionel Scaloni in 2022 to France's Aimé Jacquet in 1998 to Alf Ramsey and England in 1966, if you want to win the World Cup, your manager better be from your country.
Only one — Italy's Vittorio Pozzo (1934, 1938) — has led his country to two World Cup titles. Five men have won the World Cup and then finished as runners-ups with their native country. Carlos Alberto Parreira, born in Rio de Janeiro, led Brazil to the 1994 World Cup title in the United States.
He did not have as much success as an international manager elsewhere at World Cups leading Kuwait (1982), Saudi Arabia (1990, 1998) and South Africa (2010). He returned as Brazil manager ahead of the 2006 competition, but did not advance past the quarterfinals. Three World Cup-winning managers had the experience of also winning as players.
Mário Zagallo won as a player with Brazil in 1958 and 1962 before leading the Seleção to victory in 1970. Franz Beckenbauer led Germany over the Netherlands in the 1974 final before returning to manage the side for the 1990 winning run. Like Beckbauer, France's Didier Deschamps captained his side to a world championship in 1998 and later managed Les Bleus when they won the 2018 World Cup.