Classic Football

Vicente Italo Feola led A Seleção to their first FIFA World Cup™ triumph, but despite success and tactical innovations that shaped the sport in Brazil, he isn't always fondly remembered.

In a brilliant four-year period, Vittorio Pozzo led Italy to two FIFA World Cup crowns and an Olympic gold medal, duly cementing his place in the coaching pantheon.

In the 1930s Austria laid claim to a team whose quality and verve sent legitimate shockwaves throughout Europe. The mastermind and father of this Wunderteam often mentioned in the same breath as the great Hungarian side of the 1950s and Brazil of 1970, was Hugo Meisl.

After being criticised, lampooned and even insulted before being acclaimed and eventually adored, Aime Jacquet can truly say he traversed the full spectrum of managerial experiences during his four years in charge of the French national team.

Mastermind of the 'Miracle of Berne', Joseph Herberger is widely accepted as a founding father of the new Germany after the Second World War. He was transformed by the seminal victory over prohibitive favourites Hungary into a social and cultural icon for the fledgling Federal Republic.

Gusztav Sebes was the brains behind Hungary's 'Magical Magyars' of the 1950s. His revolutionary attacking tactics - a prototype of total football - inspired a golden generation of players who, for four years up to the 1954 FIFA World Cup, proved unbeatable.

Enzo Bearzot, who remains Italy's most beloved coach, led the Azzurri to a third FIFA World Cup title in 1982 playing an attacking brand of football with the accent on technique and individual expression.

Rinus Michels was the innovative thinker whose concept of 'Total Football' helped first Ajax and then the Netherlands break new ground in terms of both tactics and success - as well as capturing the imagination of football lovers the world over.

Strong-willed and with a flair for attacking football, Cesar Luis Menotti suffered slings and arrows for leaving Diego Maradona out of the 1978 Argentina squad. In the end, though, he had the last laugh as Kempes and Co lifted the FIFA World Cup for the first time.

The great history of Brazilian football is inextricably linked with one Mario Zagallo. The 'Professor,' as he is known to his players, is a legend not only in his homeland but in virtually every outpost of Planet Football, having played a role in four of the five FIFA World Cups won by the Seleçao.

England have won just one FIFA World Cup and they owe that success to Alf Ramsey. Loyal to his players and an astute tactician, this former England full-back led the 'wingless wonders' to glory on home soil in 1966.