Some of the most successful managers had a forgetful playing career, and conversely, perhaps playing at the highest level does not always replicate the same success when it comes to managing a team.
If we consider the top five leagues, the majority of the managers were not as great in their playing careers and played with the top teams in a top league.
There are few exceptions, obviously. For current generations of managers, we have Zinedine Zidane and Antonio Conte. They won silverware both as a player and as a manager with the top teams in the world.
With Euro 2020 on the horizon, let us take a look at the managers of the 24 teams and how they fared during their playing career.
24. Denmark – Kasper Hjulmand
Kasper Hjulmand has his career cut short at the age of 26 due to a knee injury, and he didn’t create any impact as a footballer.
Before Denmark national team he was named as successor to Thomas Tuchel at Mainz in 2014-15 season. He was sacked after 22 league matches in charge, when Mainz dropped from 3rd spot to 14th spot in Bundesliga.
23. Sweden – Janne Andersson
Anderssen spent his career playing for lower-tier clubs Alets IK and IS Halmia in Sweden.
22. Slovakia – Stefan Tarkovic
It was hard to find out the information regarding Tarkovic, although he appeared to have played as a left-back in a club called Tatran Presov.
21. North Macedonia – Angelovski
Angelovski’s managerial career kickstarted in 2013 with Rabotnicki, where he won the Macedonian Cup twice – the trophy which he had also won as a player with Cementarnica.
20. Switzerland – Vladimir Petkovic
Petkovic spent his playing career with Chur 97, Bellinzona and Locarno – all are Swiss clubs.
19. Croatia – Zlatko Dalic
Dalic, who led Croatia to the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals, didn’t play for top-division clubs.
18. Czech Republic – Jaroslav Silhavy
The Czech manager represented his nation four times while representing RH Cheb at the club level.
17. Finland – Markku Kanerva
Kanerva can be cited as a legend of Finnish club HJK Helsinki, having won the league titles five times with them. He has represented the national side 59 times.
