Football facts: Five managers who have coached Club and country at the same time

Managing a club and a country at the same time is indeed very hard. But, some of the managers were very comfortable doing that. AIFF appointed FC Goa boss Manolo Marquez as the head coach of the Indian Men’s National team after sacking Igor Stimac. He has previously managed Espanyol B and Las Palmas in Segunda Division and La Liga respectively. The Spaniard will coach the Blue Tigers and FC Goa at the same time. As Manolo Marquez will manage a club and a country at the same time, we'll look at the five managers who have done it in the past in this article on football facts.

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Football facts: Five managers who have coached Club and country at the same time

Rinus Michels (Barcelona and Netherlands)

Rinus Michels was one of the greatest managers of his time. He took charge of FC Barcelona after winning three European Cups with Ajax in 1971. He led the side to a La Liga title in 1973/74. Michels took over as manager of the Netherlands in 1974, before the World Cup in West Germany. The Dutches qualified for the final to face the hosts after defeating Argentina and defending champions Brazil. But, the Netherlands lost the final, and Rinus immediately left the job for his last year at Camp Nou. Michels later returned to the national team and won the UEFA Euro 1988.

Alex Ferguson (Aberdeen and Scotland)

Before joining Manchester United, Alex Ferguson managed Aberdeen and Scotland at the same time. Ferguson was a member of the national team’s coaching staff during the qualifiers for the 1986 World Cup. Manager Jock Stein collapsed and died at the end of the final group game but Scotland qualified for a play-off against Australia. Ferguson took control of the Scottish national team against Australia and then in the World Cup.

Scotland failed to progress from the group stage in the 1986 World Cup under Alex Ferguson. But, with Aberdeen, he was quite successful. He won the Scottish and League Cup in the 1985-86 season. Ferguson won 9 titles managing Aberdeen from 1978 to 1986 before joining Manchester United and becoming the most successful manager in the history of English football.

Guus Hiddink (PSV Eindhoven and Australia/Chelsea and Russia)

Dutch manager Guus Hiddink took over the managerial job of Russia in 2006 and took them to the Euro semifinals in 2008. He replaced Luiz Felipe Scolari in 2009 in Chelsea while managing Russia. The Dutchman took Chelsea to the Champions League semifinal and won the 2009 FA Cup.

In 2005 and 2006, he managed PSV Eindhoven and Australia simultaneously. He guided Australia to the World Cup finals for the first time in 32 years. Australia even qualified for the knockout rounds but lost to eventual winners Italy.

Leonid Slutsky (CSKA Moscow and Russia)

Leonid Slutsky was appointed as the Russian manager in 2015. The contract was until the end of UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying. He was also managing CSKA Moscow at the same time. Earlier, he had taken CSKA Moscow to the knock-out stage of the Champions League (2009) for the first time in the club's history.

He guided Russia to win the remaining matches of the qualifiers and to the finals. At the same time, he led CSKA to its third title in four years. Slutsky resigned from being the coach of the Russian team after a 3–0 loss to Wales in the UEFA Euro 2016 group stage.

Fatih Terim (Galatasaray and Turkey)

Fatih Terim managed Galatasaray four times and the Turkish National Team three times in his managerial career. In the third act, he managed the club and country at the same time. Galatasaray won its 18th league title with a scoreless draw against Fenerbahce. Galatasaray made a poor start to the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League season, losing the first two group matches in Group H, but they won three of their last four group matches to advance to the Round of 16. 

They faced Real Madrid in the quarter-finals and got knocked out of the competition. In the 2013-14 season after a poor start in both league and UCL, Terim decided to step down after so much controversy and drama. 

In August 2013, Terim was appointed interim manager of Turkey ahead of four critical 2014 World Cup UEFA Group D qualifying matches. Turkey won their next three qualifying matches but lost their last qualifying match against the Netherlands by 2–0 in Istanbul. Turkey finished fourth in Group D and failed to qualify for the 2014 World Cup finals.

After leaving Galatasaray, Terim continued with the national team and took charge of Turkey in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers.