At the FIFA World Cup, 27 of the 48 participating nations have a foreign head coach. That is quite remarkable. Players must represent their own country, but that rule doesn't apply to coaches. Economists Enrico Pennings and Thomas Peeters investigated why countries so often choose a foreign coach to train their team.
Why would a country hire a coach from abroad? After all, it is much easier to work with someone from your own country, as you share the same language and way of life. 'Our research shows that if the head coach comes from a country with a great deal of football knowledge, it is worth it. Teams perform better with a foreign coach from a country that is more more successful in football', economist Thomas Peeters explains.
Football knowledge travels with the coach
The first question the researchers asked themselves was: which countries possess the most football knowledge? 'You may have an intuition, but you still need to prove it', says Peeters. 'We studied football results from 1980 to 2015, using Elo ratings. If you beat a strong opponent, you gain more points than if you beat a weak one. The highest-rated countries include France, Brazil, the Netherlands and Spain.'
'Croatia, with a population of around three million, has been performing exceptionally well in football for years. That is more impressive than a much larger country such as Brazil, with 213 million inhabitants, winning matches'
Enrico Pennings
Economist
Pennings adds: 'We linked Elo ratings to a country’s characteristics: the size of its population, its climate and its GDP. This allowed us to identify a "frontier" for each country. The frontier is the most successful football nation with roughly the same characteristics. For Bahrain and Montenegro, for example, that country is Croatia. Croatia, with a population of around three million, has been performing exceptionally well in football for years. That is more impressive than a much larger country such as Brazil, with 213 million inhabitants, winning matches.'
The researchers then linked a country’s footballing strength to the quality of the coaches it produces. Most foreign coaches also come from these highly successful footballing nations.
Coaches from successful football nations deliver better results
In the second stage of the study, the researchers examined whether countries perform better when coached by someone from a nation with a great deal of football expertise. The answer appears to be yes. Many foreign head coaches come from top footballing countries such as Spain, France, Germany and the Netherlands. At the World Cup, for example, several Italian coaches are in charge of national teams, even though Italy itself has failed to qualify.
It is mainly the weaker footballing nations that employ foreign coaches. Countries such as New Zealand, Curaçao, Haiti, Ghana and Honduras all have foreign head coaches. Among the top footballing nations, this is far less common. There is, however, an important caveat, according to the Flemish economist Peeters: 'Countries often appoint a foreign coach when things are not going particularly well. When did Belgium bring in Dick Advocaat (coach of Belgium from 2009 to 2010) as head coach? Not when the so-called Red Devils were flying high. When a team is in crisis, results can only really improve. That makes it difficult to prove whether better performances are genuinely caused by the foreign coach.'
Nevertheless, the researchers found evidence that coaches from successful footballing nations do contribute to improved results. They bring not only their own expertise but often also assistant coaches, goalkeeping coaches and other specialists. As a result, a great deal of organisational knowledge enters the country.
Culture still matters
Knowledge alone is not enough. The researchers discovered that foreign coaches are most successful when there is also a cultural connection between their home country and the nation where they work. A shared language, history or culture makes it easier to connect.
'We do not know what they say to players in the dressing room. What is clear, however, is that they bring organisational knowledge with them'
Thomas Peeters
Economist
This pattern is visible at the World Cup. Belgium and Haiti have French head coaches, while Curaçao has a Dutch one. Argentine coaches frequently work in other South American countries. According to the researchers, this is no coincidence. Countries deliberately look for coaches from strong footballing nations that are also culturally close to them. In this way, they can benefit from new knowledge without cultural differences creating too many obstacles.
The research extends beyond football
Pennings and Peeters show that knowledge resides not only within organisations but also within people. When experienced professionals move to another organisation or another country, they take that knowledge with them. This applies not only to football, but also to businesses and many other sectors.
Peeters explains: 'We do not know exactly what foreign head coaches do that makes them so effective. We are not looking at formations or playing styles. We do not know what they say to players in the dressing room. What is clear, however, is that they bring organisational knowledge with them. Every organisation possesses organisational knowledge, but that knowledge is transferred through people. Other sectors can learn from this as well.'
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Please contact Ronald de Groot, Media & Public Relations Officer at Erasmus School of Economics: rdegroot@ese.eur.nl, 06 53 641 846.
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