Made in Britain - FIFA BALLON D'OR
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Sir Alex Ferguson, Herbert Chapman, Bill Shankly, Jock Stein. These and several more of the game’s most iconic managers have hailed from the British Isles. This year, five of the ten nominees for the 2015 FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football come from Britain, continuing the country’s proud tradition of producing successful managers.
Colin Bell (FFC Frankfurt), Jill Ellis (USA), Laura Harvey (Seattle Reign), John Herdman (Canada) and Mark Sampson (England) have all been shortlisted for the illustrious award, with the winner set to be announced on 11 January 2016 at the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala in Zurich. FIFA.com spoke exclusively with the five British candidates to see what it is about their motherland that creates such strong coaches.
Opportunity
Home to some of the oldest Football Associations in the world, the United Kingdom is steeped in football history and heritage. John Herdman, who guided Canada to victory in the Four Nations Tournament and to the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ quarter-finals, believes it is the country’s strong footballing tradition which helped set the foundations of his development as a coach.
“One thing Britain does give you is access to football 24-7, which is like a playground for people in terms of their learning and development,” said Herdman. “And obviously in Britain itself, there’s a good coaching education scheme.
“I know Mark Sampson went through the Welsh FA license, no different to myself. We have been given a good solid foundation, learning and education. All of those things culminate in the coaches’ journey to success.”
It is this access to education and opportunity that enabled Colin Bell to take up coaching from a very early age. The Leicester native, who guided FFC Frankfurt to the UEFA Women’s Champions League title, was given the chance to nurture his interest in coaching into a vital skill before his teens.
“I’ve always wanted to be a coach and I’ve always wanted to think about the game,” Bell said. “My first coaching experience was when I was ten years old, in junior class on Friday afternoons when we picked the team together. And then, even more, when I was 12 years old at Leicester City.”
Passion
The British are renowned for their love of football, and Seattle Reign head coach Laura Harvey feels it is this culture that helps inspire boys and girls from an early age. The daughter of a football coach, Harvey believes the passion which is embedded among British youngsters presents a platform of early learning.
“The foundations that we get brought up with, being British, is that football is your No1 sport, that’s what you’re brought up watching and believing in,” said Harvey, who guided her side to back-to-back NWSL Shield victories this year. “I was definitely brought up in that culture.
“I think that gives you the platform to learn the game from a young age and I think a country like the U.S., that’s a culture that’s now developing. Coaches, girls and boys are learning the game at a younger age. Not just playing it, but learning it.”
Pedigree
Like Laura Harvey, Jill Ellis’s father – who was also a football coach – helped shape her development as a manager. Ellis, who lead USA to victory in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup™, was born in Portsmouth, England before moving to Virginia aged 15 due to her father’s coaching commitments.
“I grew up in a family of coaches and I think it was just inevitable that I would end up coaching,” she said. “One of my dad’s most memorable quotes to me was: 'You haven’t been in the sport until you’ve been fired!'
“I always kept that in the back of my head, you know, he’s lived it. Always having a mentor that close in terms of my father has been great.”
Common tongue
Demonstrated by their managerial successes abroad, British coaches Ellis and Herdman have adapted seamlessly to life in North America. England national team coach Mark Sampson feels their native tongue has aided their transition in the respect that there are no language barriers to overcome.
“One of the main reasons being British helps is the language,” said Sampson, who led England to a third-place finish at the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup™.
“Working in many different continents, you’re fortunate that a lot of countries can communicate in English. If you look at the likes of John and Jill, they haven’t had to learn a new language. They can move to a different country and communicate in the native tongue with their players and their staff which I think is a big advantage.”