Former Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Liverpool stars are among the former footballers that you probably had no idea are now international assistant managers.
It’s commonplace for ex-pros to pursue a career in coaching after hanging up their boots and a number of them have landed a job in international football.
With the Euros and Copa America right around the corner, we’ve found six former players who are now working as international assistant managers.
Ricardo Carvalho
Upon Roberto Martinez landing the Portugal job, he appointed the former Chelsea and Real Madrid defender as his assistant manager.
Having racked up 89 appearances for Portugal between 2003 and 2016, Carvalho certainly has plenty of international experience to fall back on.
The 46-year-old previously worked as the assistant to Andre Villas-Boas at Marseille and is now making a name for himself in the international set-up. No doubt he’ll be eyeing up a full managerial job in the future.
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Walter Samuel
Now working as the assistant to Lionel Scaloni in Argentina, Samuel still looks like one of the scariest men in football. You definitely don’t want to get on the wrong side of the former Inter Milan star.
During his playing days, Samuel never won a trophy with Argentina, but since joining as a coach in 2018 he’s seen his nation lift the Copa America and World Cup.
Vedran Corluka
It’s mental to think that Luka Modric is now being coached by Corluka, despite being five months older than his former teammate.
After playing out his final years in Russia, Corluka hung up his boots in 2021 and promptly went into coaching. He spent a short period working as the Lokomotiv Moscow assistant and now works as the Croatia assistant manager.
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Selcuk Sahin
The former Fenerbahce star now works as the assistant manager of Turkey. He was appointed back in October last year and along with Daniele Russo, he’s the second in command to Vincenzo Montella.
Rene Meulensteen
Perhaps more known for his coaching credentials than his playing career, the former Manchester United coach has been the Australia assistant manager since 2018.
“I am enjoying my time working with Australia immensely because it is a new challenge for me,” Meulensteen told WFI last year.
“Since we started the job in 2018, the progression has been nothing short of incredible.
“In addition to coaching the senior national team, we also coached the Australian Olympic football team in Japan at the Olympic Games defeating Argentina along the way although narrowly losing out to Spain.”
Christian Poulsen
Poulsen didn’t exactly pull up many trees during his stint in the Premier League as he struggled to win over the Liverpool faithful upon his arrival from Juventus in 2010.
His start to life at Anfield was summed up when Roy Hodgson tried to defend him: “He’s not that bad on the ball, but let’s not beat about the bush and try to disguise the fact – he’s had a bad start.”
Since hanging up his boots in 2015, Poulsen has embarked on a coaching career. He started as a coach at Ajax and since 2021 has been the assistant to Kasper Hjulmand at Denmark.
