Euro 2008 Coaches

Karel Bruckner: Czech Republic

At the age of 68, Euro 2008 will be the last tournament for the venerable Bruckner. After a lifetime of service to football in the Eastern European nation, a trophy would be a fitting reward. "After 34 years as a coach I have decided to change my way of living," Bruckner said in March. Bruckner has been in charge of the Czech Republic since 2001 and also coached the U-21 side for three years before that.

Luiz Felipe Scolari: Portugal

As is so often the case in football, a far from brilliant playing career proved the perfect grounding for a gifted and inspirational coach. After achieving success in club management with Gremio, Scolari lifted the ultimate prize when he guided Brazil to their fifth World Cup triumph in 2002. In contracting Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Portuguese Football Federation could not have chosen a coach with better credentials, although as Portugal's first foreign boss the choice was far from consensual.

But results would prove that Scolari was the right man to coax the best out of an undoubtedly talented but perennially underperforming nation. After falling at the final hurdle as hosts of the 2004 European Championships, Portugal followed up that achievement by reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup in Germany to prove it is well and truly among the world's elite footballing nations. Scolari has also coached in Kuwait, Japan and Saudi Arabia and was courted by England before the FA chose "Second Choice" Steve McClaren.

Switzerland: Jakob Kuhn

The appointment of Jakob 'Koebi' Kuhn trigged murmurs of discontent within Swiss football circles, however the 65-year-old managed to guide Switzerland to the finals of Euro 2004 and the World Cup in Germany two years later.

In spite of those achievements Kuhn has announced that he will step down as Swiss coach at the end of the tournament, to be replaced by current Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld. Kuhn is a native of Zurich and spent much of his career as a midfielder with FC Zurich, winning 63 international caps and appearing at the 1966 World Cup.

Turkey: Fatih Terim

Fatih Terim has been enjoying his second spell in the Turkish hotseat since 2005. The former AC Milan and Fiorentina boss has happy memories of the continental competition as he was the first man to achieve qualification in 1996. Fatih Terim spent much of his playing career as a central defender for Galatasaray, winning over 50 caps for the Turkish national team and has also managed the Istanbul giants on two occasions, sandwiching his spell in Serie A.

Austria: Josef Hickersberger

59-year-old Josef Hickersberger is perhaps best remembered as the man in charge when Austria were beaten 1-0 by the Faroe Islands in a European Championship qualifier in 1991. He's enjoyed little success since taking over the reins of the national team for a second time in 2006, although Austria did at least record a 2-1 win over fellow Euro 2008 co-host Switzerland with Hickersberger in charge. Hickersberger was a player and coach of Rapid Vienna and appeared for the national team at the 1978 World Cup. He has coached also in Germany and the Middle East.

Croatia: Slaven Bilic

Slaven Bilic is simply the most popular person in Croatia. A spirited and determined defender in the golden generation of the nineties, winning 44 caps, who went on to demonstrate no mean coaching skills with the U-21 team, emerging as the logical choice as Zlatko Kranjcar's successor after a flop at the 2006 World Cup. Formerly of Karlsruher SC, West Ham and Everton, Bilic is tremendously knowledgeable about the game and is unreservedly trusted by each one of his players. Bilic has not coached at club level but will be much in demand when he ends his tenure with the senior side. Fun facts: Bilic has a lawyer's degree (no, really) and plays guitar in a thrash metal rock band.

Germany: Joachim Loew

Loew was plucked from nowhere to become Jurgen Klinsmann's assistant coach during Germany's 2006 World Cup campaign, and when Klinsmann chose not to renew his contract with the German FA, Loew was appointed head coach of Die Mannschaft.

He has so far endured a nomadic coaching career that has included stints in his native Germany (VfB Stuttgart, Karlsruher SC), Turkey (Fenerbahce, Adanaspor) and Austria (FC Tirol Innsbruck, Austria Wien), but Loew is well regarded by the German press, who consider him an astute tactician. As a player Loew failed to make the grade as a striker in the Bundesliga and spent the majority of his career in Division 2, winding up his playing days in Switzerland.

Poland: Leo Beenhakker

One sign of Leo Beenhakker's popularity in his adopted homeland was Polish president Lech Kaczynski presenting the Dutch journeyman coach with the Cross of the Order of the Rebirth of Poland for leading the Polish team to Austria & Switzerland. Beenhakker previously oversaw the World Cup campaigns of Holland in 1990 and Trinidad and Tobago in 2006 and is already contracted for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The Rotterdam native has coached all over the world including spells with Real Madrid, Ajax and Real Zaragoza as well as stints in Mexico, Turkey and Saudi Arabia. He is fluent in a number of languages including English, Spanish and German.

France: Raymond Domenech

Raymond Domenech led the French national team to second place in the 2006 World Cup and is still in the hotseat. Seems to enjoy winding up the Italians and while he is not the most charismatic of leaders, he is certain to be the source of some interesting quotes over the next few months. He is also not afraid to deflate big egos and there could be one or two surprising selections as he names his squad.

Domenech is known as a disciplinarian and the prickly, former no-nonsense defender spent the bulk of his playing career with Olympique Lyonnais, winning 8 international caps. He also won French titles with Strasbourg and Bordeaux before managing Mulhouse and Lyon. Domenech is reportedly a lover of theatre and interested in astrology and tarot. Apparently he has an antipathy to Scorpios.

Italy: Roberto Donadoni

Roberto Donadoni is typical of the young and relatively untested ex-legends national teams have turned to in recent years - Glenn Hoddle with England, Jurgen Klinsmann with Germany being other examples.

The former Milan & Italy star may look older, but is only 44 and had never coached a club bigger than Livorno before, yet his tenure in charge of Italy has been a spotless one thus far: The Azzurri won their qualification group.

Respected by the players, Donadoni has yet to impress all the suits at the FIGC. Their failure to agree a new contract with him has already sparked debate about who the next Italy coach will be, before the current incumbent has even had a crack at one tournament.
It looks as if Donadoni will be gone before he has had the chance to press a genuine track record, which seems unfair. Of course, should Cannavaro be holding the Henri Delaunay trophy aloft on the 29th of June, all that could change.

Romania: Victor Piturka

Victor Piturka is, along with Anghel Iordanescu, the top coach in Romanian soccer.
A prolific striker as a player, Piturka netted a whopping 165 goals in 175 games for Steaua Bucharest, and was there as part of Romanian football's finest hour - Steaua's 1986 European Cup triumph against Barcelona.

Piturka was one of Steaua's senior coaches by 1992, and had a brief spell in charge of his country in 1998-'99, achieving qualification for Euro 2000. But before he could coach Romania in the finals, he was sacked after falling out with the untouchable Gheorghe Hagi, Gica Popescu and the president of the Romanian football association.

Piturka went back to Steaua as coach and won them the 2000-'01 championship, but found himself again unemployed three years later after arguing with his chairman about a particular player's contract.

The 51-year-old was reappointed Romania coach in 2005 and has hauled his country to a second European Championship finals as coach.
Despite the bookies' ratings, Piturka is staying confident of upsetting the odds: "We have our chances and anything is possible," he said recently. "We can achieve our dream, to play the final, and even to win it."

Greece: Otto Rehhagel

A failed 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign doesn't seem to have greyed the hair of hirsute German coach Otto Rehhagel. The eccentric tactician, considered somewhat a maverick in his homeland, is dubbed "King Otto" in Greece after turning the national side around following his 2001 arrival.

Beating Portugal in that memorable 2004 final has made Rehhagel the most successful coach in the history of the Greek national team. The veteran, who turns 70 this year, has also spent more time in charge of the defending champions than anyone else. Rehhagel previously won three national titles and three German Cups as well as the 1991/92 Cup Winners' Cup with Werder Bremen. As a player in the 1960s and 1970s, Rehhagel appeared as a defender for Rot-Weiss Essen, Hertha BSC Berlin and Kaiserslautern.

Greece: Otto Rehhagel

A failed 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign doesn't seem to have greyed the hair of hirsute German coach Otto Rehhagel. The eccentric tactician, considered somewhat a maverick in his homeland, is dubbed "King Otto" in Greece after turning the national side around following his 2001 arrival.

Beating Portugal in that memorable 2004 final has made Rehhagel the most successful coach in the history of the Greek national team. The veteran, who turns 70 this year, has also spent more time in charge of the defending champions than anyone else. Rehhagel previously won three national titles and three German Cups as well as the 1991/92 Cup Winners' Cup with Werder Bremen. As a player in the 1960s and 1970s, Rehhagel appeared as a defender for Rot-Weiss Essen, Hertha BSC Berlin and Kaiserslautern.

The Netherlands: Guus Hiddink

Born on November 8th in Varsseveld, Hiddink was a solid player with De Graafschap, PSV Eindhoven and NEC Nijmegen, but his true claim to fame turned out to be his coaching work. He exploded on to the scene with three Dutch titles, three Cups and the European Cup in 1988 with PSV, before coaching Fenerbahce in Turkey and Valencia, Real Madrid and Betis in Spain.

Between various club engagements he led Holland to fourth place at the 1998 World Cup and South Korea to the same spot four years later. Then ensued his second spell at PSV, crowned with another three League titles and a Cup. Simultaneously with PSV, he led Australia to the 2006 World Cup, being knocked out by Italy in the round of 16 only by a suspect penalty awarded in the 89th minute. Finally, since 2006 he has coached Russia with results well above the quality of play achieved.

Spain: Luís Aragonés

Luís Aragonés. Born on July 28th, 1938 in Hortaleza near Madrid, Aragonés stepped in for Iñaki Sáez in 2004. Caused uproar the same year when he called Thierry Henry a "black shit" while pep-talking to then Arsenal striker José Reyes.

An extraordinary forward for Atlético Madrid and Spain, Aragonés was the author of one of the unluckiest goals in history. Just three minutes from the end of extra-time, he scored a wonderful free kick to bring Atlético in front against Bayern in the 1974 Champions Cup finals...only to see his effort neutralized by Schwarzenbeck in the 120th minute. In the replay the Germans won 4-0.

His coaching career at Atlético started spectacularly with an Intercontinental Cup, Spanish Cup and a League title in his first three seasons. Since that time he coached Atlético in three other spells, leading them to two more Cups. He also won the 1988 Cup with Barcelona and came tantalizingly close to snatching the 1996 League title with Valencia at the expense of none other than Atlético.

Sweden: Lars Lagerback

Lars Lagerback has been in sole charge of the Swedish national side since previous joint-manager Tommy Soderberg left to take over the under-21s in 2004 and shows little sign of stepping down. Lagerback is naturally conservative and has been criticised was taking too few risks. But the game's authorities obviously have a belief in his ability to recreate Sweden's golden eras of 1958 and 1994. The 59-year-old recently extended his contract to include the 2010 World Cup campaign despite initially saying he would retire this year.

After a low profile playing career, Lagerback began coaching in the Swedish third division with stints with Kilafors, Arbraa and Hudiksvall before joining the FA as a youth coach and coach to the national B team.

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