HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In
association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
, the manager is the person who runs a
football club A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an all ...
or a national team. They have wide-ranging responsibilities, including selecting the team, choosing the tactics, recruiting and transferring players, negotiating player contracts, and speaking to the media. The role exists almost exclusively in the
British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isl ...
; in other regions its responsibilities are split between a
head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...
and a
director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...
. In the 21st century some British clubs adopted a similar split, but often continue to use the title of 'manager' for their head coach.


Responsibilities

The manager's responsibilities in a professional football club usually include (but are not limited to) the following: * Selecting the team of players for matches, and their
formation Formation may refer to: Linguistics * Back-formation, the process of creating a new lexeme by removing or affixes * Word formation, the creation of a new word by adding affixes Mathematics and science * Cave formation or speleothem, a secondar ...
. * Planning the strategy, and instructing the players on the pitch. * Motivating players before and during a match. * Delegating duties to the first team coach and the coaching and medical staff. * Scouting for young but talented players for eventual
training Training is teaching, or developing in oneself or others, any skills and knowledge or fitness that relate to specific useful competencies. Training has specific goals of improving one's capability, capacity, productivity and performance. I ...
in the youth academy or the reserves, and encouraging their development and improvement. * Buying and selling players in the
transfer market The transfer market is the arena in which football players are available for transfer to clubs. The transfer market consists of a list of players available for transfer, and also the money moving between clubs as they contest to purchase and sell ...
, including loans. * Facing the media in pre-match and post-match interviews. Some of the above responsibilities may be shared with a
director of football A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...
or sporting director, and are at times delegated to an assistant manager or club coach. Additionally, depending on the club, some minor responsibilities include: * Marketing the club, most especially for ticket admission, sponsorship and merchandising. * Growing turnover and keeping the club profitable. These responsibilities are more common among managers of small clubs.


European and North American managers

The title of manager is almost exclusively used in British football. In most other European countries in which professional football is played, the person responsible for the direction of a team is awarded the position of
coach Coach may refer to: Guidance/instruction * Coach (sport), a director of athletes' training and activities * Coaching, the practice of guiding an individual through a process ** Acting coach, a teacher who trains performers Transportation * Coac ...
or "trainer". For instance, despite the general equivalence in responsibilities,
Gareth Southgate Gareth Southgate (born 3 September 1970) is an English professional football manager and former player who played as a defender and midfielder. He has been the manager of the England national team since 2016. Southgate won the League Cu ...
is referred to as the manager of
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, and Hansi Flick is described as the head coach of
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
. Germany also has a team manager role that is subordinate to the head coach and is currently held by
Oliver Bierhoff Oliver Bierhoff (born 1 May 1968) is a German football official and former player who played as a forward. He has previously served as the national team director of the German Football Association. A tall, strong and prolific goalscorer, Bierh ...
. The responsibilities of a European football manager or head coach tend to be divided up in North American professional sports, where the teams usually have a separate
general manager A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
and
head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in asso ...
(known as a field manager in baseball), although occasionally a person may fill both these roles. While the first team coach in football is usually an assistant to the manager who actually holds the real power, the North American-style general manager and head coach have clearly distinct areas of responsibilities. For example, a typical European football manager has the final say on in-game decisions (including player line-ups), and off-the-field and roster management decisions (including contract negotiations). In North American sports, those duties would be handled separately by the head coach and general manager, respectively.


See also

* List of football managers with most games * List of longest managerial reigns in association football *
Caretaker manager In association footballing terms, a caretaker manager or interim manager is somebody who takes temporary charge of the management of a football team, usually when the regular manager is dismissed or leaves for a different club. However, a care ...
*
Player-manager A player-coach (also playing coach, captain-coach, or player-manager) is a member of a sports team who simultaneously holds both playing and coaching duties. A player-coach may be a head coach or an assistant coach. They may make changes to the s ...
*
League Managers Association The League Managers Association (LMA) is the trade union for Premier League, EFL and national team managers in English association football. The LMA awards the LMA Manager of the Year award annually. History The union was founded in 3045 as ...
for managers in England * Football Manager, a simulation video game for playing as a manager.


References

{{Authority control Association football terminology Sports coaches Association football occupations