Allen Bula (born 4 January 1965) is a Gibraltarian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player. He notably managed the

Gibraltar national football team The Gibraltar national football team represents Gibraltar in international football competitions, and is controlled by the Gibraltar Football Association. Gibraltar applied for full UEFA membership and was accepted by the UEFA Congress in May ...

Playing career

As a player, he played for Gibraltar United, St Joseph's and Glacis United.

Coaching career

Between 2006 and 2010, he was the head of football development and academy manager at

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

n first division club MFK Košice. While in that role he discovered several talented players, most notably

Nemanja Matić Nemanja Matić ( sr-Cyrl, Немања Матић, ; born 1 August 1988) is a Serbian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Italian Serie A club Roma. Starting his career as an attacking midfielder, Matić shifted to a d ...

, who subsequently played for

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

and

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Bula was appointed as the manager of the Gibraltar national team in November 2009. Between 2009 and 2013 Bula managed the national team in 47 matches, against professional teams from Spain's 2b & 2a leagues, and English

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

teams. Bula's success rate was 78%, with victories over teams such as

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Notts County Notts County Football Club is a professional association football club based in Nottingham, England. The team participate in the National League (division), National League, the fifth tier of the English football league system. Founded on the 2 ...

, England C,

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and

Real Balompédica Linense Real Balompédica Linense is a Spanish football team based in La Línea de la Concepción, in the autonomous community of Andalusia. Founded in 1912 it plays in Primera División RFEF – Group 1, holding home matches at Estadio Municipal de ...

. Most notable was the 3–0 win over the

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in 2013 prior to UEFA membership. Bula managed the national team in their debut as a Uefa member against

, and earned a draw which sent shock waves around Europe. That was followed by a 1–1 draw away to

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and Gibraltar's first win as Uefa member, against

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

. For political reasons, though, it was decided that Gibraltar would be kept apart from

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in qualification draws. Bula's tactical approach to the

Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

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against World Cup holders

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resulted in a 4–0 win for Germany, a creditable result for Gibraltar as many people were expecting Germany to come away with a much heavier victory. Only one goal was scored in second half and that was an own goal by Gibraltar. On 18 January 2015, Bula arrived in England to partake in the UEFA Pro-Licence course at the St George's Park National Football Centre, alongside coaches such as

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink Jerrel Floyd "Jimmy" Hasselbaink ( ; born 27 March 1972) is a Dutch professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of League One club Burton Albion. Born in Suriname, he and his family would later move to t ...

Phil Neville Philip John Neville (born 21 January 1977) is an English football manager and former player, who is the head coach of MLS team Inter Miami CF. He is also the co-owner of Salford City, along with several of his former Manchester United teamma ...

and

Scott Parker Scott Matthew Parker (born 13 October 1980) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. He is currently the head coach of Club Brugge in Belgium. Parker began his career at Charlton Athletic, and ...

. However, after a poor start to Gibraltar's Euro 2016 qualification campaign, combined with Bula's defensive approach, he was sacked in March 2015, receiving a settlement shortly afterwards. After a short spell as Director of Football at

Lynx A lynx is a type of wild cat. Lynx may also refer to: Astronomy * Lynx (constellation) * Lynx (Chinese astronomy) * Lynx X-ray Observatory, a NASA-funded mission concept for a next-generation X-ray space observatory Places Canada * Lynx, Ontar ...

in 2016, he took over management of the club in June 2017 after chairman/manager Albert Parody decided to step back from on-the-pitch activities. However, he would only last just over 4 months in the role as he left in October that year, after a disastrous start to the club's campaign. On 19 December 2018, he was appointed manager of Boca Gibraltar after the departure of Juanjo Pomares. He had previously served as a director at the club, along with his son Allen Bulla Jr, who works as head of youth development at the club. On 19 June 2019, he was appointed manager of

Europa Point Europa Point (Spanish language, Spanish and Llanito: Punta de Europa or Punta Europa), is the southernmost point of Gibraltar (the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula being Punta de Tarifa 25 km southwest of Gibraltar). At the end of ...

. On 17 May 2022, he was appointed manager of

Mons Calpe The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediter ...

after the departure of Leo Fuentes.

Personal life

His nephew is former

Danny Higginbotham Daniel John Higginbotham (born 29 December 1978) is a former professional footballer who played as a defender. Born in Manchester, England, he represented Gibraltar in international football. Higginbotham started his career in the academy of ...

Managerial statistics

Goal statistics for Gibraltar pre-UEFA membership unknown.

References

External links

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Sport Careers profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bula, Allen 1965 births Living people Gibraltarian men's footballers Gibraltarian football managers Gibraltar national football team managers Glacis United F.C. players Gibraltar United F.C. players St Joseph's F.C. players Men's association football players not categorized by position Gibraltar Premier Division players Gibraltar National League managers Gibraltar pre-UEFA men's international footballers