Top players who became great coaches

Pep Guardiola and Zinedine Zidane ahead of the Champions League game between Real Madrid and Manchester City at the Santiago Bernabeu in February 2020.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

There is a school of thought which suggests that the very best footballers cannot become top coaches or managers.

Because football comes naturally to the game's geniuses, how can they possibly coach that? It is true to an extent, but there are some exceptions.

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Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is the Weekend Editor of FourFourTwo. A European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.