In the game of soccer, it is said midfielders go on to become the best coaches/managers when they retire: Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp Zinedine Zidane all back this assertion up. It is thought the reason behind this is because playing in a position that is pivotal to both a team’s attack and defence makes a person’s understanding of the game more rounded.
A striker turned manager might be great at getting his attackers to put the ball in the ol’ onion bag but he might be useless in organising his defence or even his midfield to defend when the ball is in transition.
With this nugget of logic then, it might be safe to assume that from a coaching perspective goalkeepers would only be suited to train other keepers when they retire. Afterall, goalkeeping is an art form in itself and one would figure there wouldn’t be time in a fledging keeper’s career to worry about the tactical nuances of playing higher up the pitch.
But, as you’ll find out by reading below, there are indeed keepers turned coaches who have managed at the very highest echelons of world football. Here’s our comprehensive list.
Nuno Espirito Santo
Having leant from Jose Mourinho’s, Champions League winning Porto side, it’s no surprise Nuno has found success in management. Tottenham may not have been the right club for him, but it’s clear from the post-Nuno drop off from Wolves that he was integral to their competitiveness in the league.
A relative unknown outside of Portugal, Nuno arrived at Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2017 with the remit of getting the club back to the Premier League, an objective of which he completed in his first season. And whilst he had a rather ‘overpowered’ roster of players at his disposal (Diogo Jota and Ruben Neves et al), he took to Premier League football like a Schumacher to racing, getting them into Europe in his very first season in the top flight!
Many Wolves fans still adore Nuno, despite his final season at the club a very underwhelming one; they languished in the bottom half of the Premier League and purportedly ‘ran out of ideas’, struggling to score many goals (although this is still a problem they have to this day).
Julen Lopetegui
Another Wolves manager makes the list (the current Wolves manager in fact) and his CV reads like a who’s who of the most tactically astute teams in world football: Real Madrid, Porto, Sevilla and the Spanish national team have all been his hot seats in recent times and those clubs/teams certainly wouldn’t be taking a chance on a goalkeeper who fancies doing a ‘bit of coaching’ when they hang up their gloves.
Since joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2023, the Spanish boss who played in goal for clubs such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Rayo Vallecano has steered a struggling side away from relegation perils in the Premier League and looks on course to keep the club in the division for another season. And whilst his Real Madrid tenure turned sour (he was sacked after just 14 games in charge) he made a good fist of it at Sevilla, finishing in the top four of La Liga and thus qualifying for the Champions League every season he was there and even winning the Europa League trophy.
Nigel Adkins
A unique management path of going from goalkeeper, to physio to manager. His playing career never quite took off, his most successful playing spell coming at Wiganj in the third tier of English football, playing 155 games between 1986 and 1993.
Any hang ups he may have had over his playing career would be cast aside through his career in management, with numerous spells in the championship and even guiding Southampton to the Premier League from the third tier.
His start came as player manager of Welsh side Bangor City, where he managed to win two league titles before retiring as a player, and joining Scunthorpe United as a Physio. He would become caretaker manager in November 2006 his playing career making him more qualified than anyone else at the club.
In rare circumstances his caretaker period was a huge success, Scunthorpe fans would take to Adkins, showing their support through a chant stating “ Who needs Mourinho, we’ve got our physio!” as he was promoted to permanent manager. He would take them up to the Championship in his first season of trying, ending 40 years of absence from English football’s second tier.
There would be setbacks for Nigel and Scunthorpe however, they were relegated in their first Championship season, but would bounce back, gaining promotion straight back to the second tier.
This time they were here to stay, with Adkins stewarding them to safety through a 20th place finish, just enough to keep them in the Championship.
Following his success in keeping Scunthorpe up, former Premier League side Southampton would offer him the position of manager. At this time, they were languishing in League 1, making this appointment technically a step down, despite the club being much much bigger.
Southampton had slumped heavily, suffering relegation from the Premier League to League one in just 3 seasons after entering administration. Repeating his prior achievement, he would guide Southampton to promotion in his first season.
The side were now in the Championship again, and back with a chance of Premier League football, in a league where anyone can beat anyone.
He would prove to be the right man to bring Premier League football back to St Mary’s after a dark 5 year period. Adkins would become the first manager in Saint’s history to achieve back to back promotion, and doing so on a limited budget would only make this achievement greater.
His first Premier League game would come against eventual champions Man City, where Adkins’ side would battle fiercely, but ultimately lose 3-2, despite leading 2-1 17 minutes in.
Adkins peak as a manager would probably come on September the 22nd, where he would record his first premier league win in a 4-1 trouncing of Aston Villa. From here things would take a drastic downturn.
Following poor league form, Adkins was sacked. Despite being back in the Premier League way ahead of schedule, Southampton hired Mauricio Pochettino from Espanyol in a bid to save themselves
Despite the harshness of sacking Adkins, it would prove to be the right decision. Pochettino guided Saints to safety and went on to be the catalyst behind Saint’s most successful period.
Adkins’ career would never reach the same heights, with spells at Reading, Sheffield United, Hull and Charlton all ending in his dismissal.
Dino Zoff
Zoff was a legend of the game, and one of history’s greatest ever goalkeepers. He made over 470 appearances for Napoli and Juventus combined, over a 16 year period. As a player he had captained Italy to a World Cup win in 1982, at the age of 40!
It was unsurprising he saw himself as a manager, given his leadership on the pitch and he quickly made his first steps into coaching, becoming a Goalkeeping Coach at Juventus.
It wasn’t for him though, with Zoff holding loftier ambitions, his first proper coaching job would be at the 1988 Olympics, where he managed them to qualify to the 1988 Korean Summer Olympic games.
He returned to Juventus following this experience, but this time as coach. Following a 4th place finish in 1989, Zoff would go onto win the UEFA Cup and the Coppa Italia for Juventus, also guiding them to a top 4 finish.
Despite two trophies in his second season of management, he was sacked for his league performances, with top 4 finishes not good enough for the Juventus hierarchy.
Following an average 4 year spell with Lazio in which he’d manage a 37% win rate over 151 matches, he would step back into a technical Sporting Director role. It would prove successful, with Lazio winning the Coppa Italia in 1998 and making a UEFA Cup final, falling short to Inter Milan.
Following his success behind the scenes at Lazio, and proving himself as a great manager through interim stints at Lazio, Zoff was given the Italy job. Zoff, despite being a keeper, was not happy to sit back and nullify the opponent in an attempt to grind out victories like his predecessors.
He instead opted for a more fluid attacking style of player, whilst remaining somewhat defensively minded. It worked, Zoff’s 5-2-1-2 system took Italy all the way to the final of Euro 2000.
They faced France, the best side in the world, hot off of their 1998 World Cup victory. Italy were a great side, but for many France were simply too strong. However, after Delvecchio poked home from close range on 56 minutes, another Italy masterclass looked to be in the offing.
As the clock ran down, and chances were spurned, the game looked more and more to be another famous display of the infamous Italian Catenaccio. As the match headed into the last minute of injury time, Barthez would launch a long free kick forward, in the hopes of a chance falling for them.
Juventus legend David Trezeguet would meet the kick, flicking it onto Sylvain Wiltord, who coolly controlled the flick on with his chest, vollying it through Nesta’s legs, equalising in the last second.
France went on to win the game through a Trezeguet volley. It was a golden goal in the 103rd minute, ending the match right there and then
Zoff would step down soon after the tournament despite what most would consider a success. Many attribute this decision as due to pressure from A.C. Milan president and politician Silvio Berlusconi.
This would essentially spell the end of his managerial career, though he would return as Lazio manager, guiding them to 3rd following a treble winning season under Sven Gorann-Eriksson.
It was a short lived role. He wouldn’t find another job until 2005, with this one proving to be his last. He’d manage Fiorentina for the second half of the season. Only managing a 25% win rate this time, he would step down in May, ending a successful Managerial career.
