FCA XVenture College

Many Journeys; One Jersey.  Our Strength is Our Desire to Win.

Insights on a Top ten FIFA World Cup Coach

(Condensed version originally published in Keep Up in November 2022)

In November and December 2022, 32 Nations compete in the biggest single sports event on the globe.  The FIFA World Cup.  Whether you like football or not, there is no question that the FIFA World Cup is likely to break all records for viewership.   Current estimates sit at 5 billion people.  that’s almost 65% of the world’s population.   32 of the best international teams in the world lock horns to try and take the biggest prize in sport, the final being held a week before Christmas on 18^th December.

In 2019, 206 countries started their journey with the aim of gaining one of those special places in the Finals.  Many top teams didn’t make it: Hotbeds of the sport including Italy, Sweden, Russia, Colombia, Peru, Chile, Nigeria and Egypt and growing markets such as China, UAE   and India missed out. 

For Australia, surprising to many, we have our place in the Finals.  Once again, sitting at the football table with the best in the World.   For players it’s the pinnacle of careers. For all concerned it’s a dream come true.  Some never get to experience it:  George Best; Eric Cantona; Alfredo DiStefano; Ryan Giggs among them.  Every country’s supporter base believes they should be at the World Cup.  Expectations run high.  Australia has achieved much in World football by getting there in recent times. The challenge of qualifying for a World Cup is always a hard journey for the Socceroos. Ask Ange Postecoglou, the current Celtic manager who experienced this as Socceroo coach leading up to the 2018 World Cup. Australia travels the furthest of any nation to qualify and with  the majority of the squad playing in all corners of the globe the time to bring the team together is limited add the pandemic which meant the majority of games were played away from home. This  means that even further travel is required with limited fan support. (16 out of 20 games were away.)  

Being a coach facing such conditions is very difficult.  Yet this special breed of person takes the job on, knowing full well that failure will lead to job loss.  Unlike the majority of us, that tends to be incredibly visible and unpleasant.  We all know that social media certainly treats football coaches who are perceived to have failed incredibly badly. Why do they do it? For most, they love the game and coaching so much they feel they have no option. 

For coaches who lead their team from the start of the World Cup cycle to the Finals is a testimony of their resilience, character, and leadership.  But critical to this is also the team’s win rate.  Obviously the higher the percentage of wins the more likely the team will get through. So how do the current group of international coaches stack up in their most recent international campaigns?  Not unsurprising for those who work with him and know him well, the Socceroo coach Graham Arnold stacks up against all the top coaches.  The table below shows each country competing in the finals, their World Cup ranking when they qualified, their coach and their win rate.   The list is in highest to lowest win rate coach.  NB.   Some of the coaches were appointed part way through the program.  

COUNTRY	COACH	WIN %	RANKING
Uruguay	Diego Alonso	77.78	13
Brazil	Tite	75	1	*
Cameroon	Rigobert Song	75	37	*
Netherlands	Louis Van Gaal	73.33	10
Belgium	Roberto Martinez	72.4	2	*
Saudi A	Herve Renard	70.58	49	*
Senegal	Aliou Cisse	69.93	20	*
Australia	Graham Arnold	69.7	42	*
Canada	John Herdman	68.89	38	*
Japan	Hajime Moriyasu	68.42	23	*
Denmark	Kasper Hjulmand	67.65	11
Argentina	Lionel Scaloni	67.35	4	*
Mexico	Gerardo Martino	65.57	9	*
Serbia	Dragan Stojkovic	65	25
USA	Greg Berhalter	64.29	15	*
France	Didier Deschamps	63.64	3	*
South Korea	Paulo Bento	63.46	29	*
Portugal	Fernando Santos	61.17	8	*
England	Gareth Southgate	60.5	5	*
Germany	Hansi Flick	60	12
Costa Rica	Luis F Suarez	56.52	31	*
Spain	Luis Enrique	52.94	7	*
Qatar	Felix Sanchez	52.4	51	*
Croatia	Zlatko Dalic	50	16	*
Iran	Carlos Quieroz	50	21
Tunisia	Jalel Kadri	50	35
Morocco	Walid Regragui	50	24
Ecuador	Gustavo Alfaro	48.38	46	*
Switzerland	Murat Yakin	46.67	14
Poland	Czeslaw Michniewicz	37.5	26
Wales	Rob Page	35.57	18	*
Ghana	Otto Addo	N/A	60
Coaches who completed the whole campaign*

From the table we can see that  Graham Arnold and the Socceroo’s win rate is in the top ten of teams into the World Cup. Of course, some coaches such as Deschamps of France has coached many more matches and others have coached less.  But there is a pattern.  There is a winning mentality, and this is no flash in the pan. At Sydney FC, Arnie’s win percentage in the two years prior to being appointed coach of the Socceroos is still the highest we’ve experienced in the A league.(74%)

 

Naturally achieving a high win rate helps when a coach has a high-quality talent pool.  At club level, coaches are often reliant on funds available from the club assuming we believe that in principle quality players cost more money. Nothing new in that.  It’s the same in obtaining any talent.  In the A league and at international level, it’s quite different.  For the international team, the coach only has access to  players who can represent the Country or at a league clubs can in most instances, fit into a salary cap  So, to achieve high win percentages, you just can’t rely on the talent pool.  And that’s what Arnie has become adept at doing.   Let’s look at a few aspects of his DNA which has enabled this win rate to be so good. 

Culture beats strategy every time.

At Sydney FC, both Arnie and Terry McFlynn held the view that the starting point to success was building a  positive team culture from day one.  The simplest definition of culture is “the way we do things around here.” A place where every player and staff member felt like they belonged and loved being in and part of the environment.  A place where there is clarity on what was expected.  Arnie set out to do the same with the Socceroos.  He  encouraged players to travel far and wide to be part of the World Cup journey.   Playing for your Country is a big pull, but so is making the Socceroo family time (or camps) special.  A time when the family comes together needs to be a happy one.    

Arnie talks of the journey, the experience, the legacy.  He knows.   He’s been part of the Australian football landscape for forty years. Such aspects were grabbed at an early stage in my work with the playing group which led to the creation of a unique team identity which is proudly displayed in every Socceroo dressing room for every game.    

Credits: Socceroos. Design: XVenture

The positive environment is there for all to see and feel.  From breakfast, to dinner, to the training field, the dressing room and game time. Everyone turns up on time happy to be there, wearing their uniforms with pride. The environment is one of mutual respect.  The Socceroos know who they are. Hard working honest footballers.  No big egos.  No dickheads, with the vast majority playing in the lower divisions of World football. Individually, most don’t compare to the Mbappe’s, Neymar’s of this World.  But together, it’s a winning culture led by Arnie where there is a real strength and a deep sense of pride and belonging.   The famous line “there’s no “I” in team fits the Socceroo culture perfectly. A team that for many commentators in football pulled off a miracle by making it to the World Cup finals. 

Part 2 coming next week....

About  Mike Conway - Mike is the author of the FCA XV Essential Skills Program and has applied his tools and techniques to build successful teams in business, sport and education over many decades. His contribution to Australia's World Cup campaign was significant.