Teacher vs student in the WC final - the greatest lecture of international football

Carlo Ancelotti (Brazil), Julian Nagelsmann (Germany), Mauricio Pochettino (USA) and Thomas Tuchel (England) have a combined sum of almost 3,000 club matches in their coaching CVs, but it proved irrelevant or, at least, not good enough to lead their national teams to success at this World Cup.

On the other hand, Spain's Luis de la Fuente and Argentina's Lionel Scaloni - who are about to face each other in Sunday's showdown - together have a remarkable number of 11 games in senior club football!

All of those at De la Fuente's account, as he was sacked at Deportivo Alaves in 2011 after only 11 La Liga games.

Scaloni has never ever managed a senior club side. His coaching career began as an assistant at Sevilla under Jorge Sampaoli in 2016-17 before he moved into Argentina's national-team setup in 2018. Since then, he has only coached Argentina.

So, just 11 senior club matches - a staggering figure considering they are now meeting in a World Cup final. Which goes to show what a different kind of animal international football is compared to club football. De la Fuente and Scaloni have recorded hundreds of international matches and won multiple major international trophies between themselves, such as the World Cup, European Championship, Copa America, Nations League, Finalissima, etc.

What makes this upcoming clash even more thrilling is that Spain's manager was one of Scaloni's tutors during Scaloni's UEFA Pro Licence course. In 2017, shortly after retiring as a player, Scaloni enrolled on the UEFA Pro Licence course at the Spanish Football Federation's headquarters in Las Rozas, near Madrid. At the time, De la Fuente was not only coaching Spain's youth national teams, but was also one of the federation's instructors on its elite coaching courses.

Scaloni has spoken warmly about that period on several occasions, saying:

"Luis was my teacher on the coaching course. He gave us enormous help while we were taking the course in Las Rozas. He's a wonderful person."

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The course was attended by numerous former professionals who were taking their first steps into coaching. De la Fuente's former students include not only Scaloni, but also names such as Xabi Alonso, Xavi Hernandez, Raul Gonzalez, Victor Valdes, Andoni Iraola...

In an interview ahead of the 2026 World Cup, De la Fuente talked about his memories of Scaloni as a student. He said that although it's easy to praise Scaloni in hindsight, the Argentine had already stood out in the classroom:

"He had something different. He challenged you. He debated everything. He'd say, 'I don't see it that way.' He discussed everything."

Rather than seeing that as a problem, De la Fuente viewed it as a sign of someone with a genuine coaching mind, someone who wasn't content simply to absorb information but wanted to understand and question every tactical idea.

Their relationship has remained close ever since. During the 2024 Copa America and Euro 2024, Scaloni publicly backed Spain and praised De la Fuente's work, saying he "admired the way his teams played and the commitment his players showed". De la Fuente, in turn, has repeatedly expressed pride in seeing one of his former students become a World Cup-winning coach.

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So, what now? Well, we're about to see if the mentor is ready to beat his own pupil. The teacher and his former student found themselves on opposite benches in the World Cup final - a storyline that practically writes itself.

WORLD CUP - KNOCKOUT STAGE

Sunday

Third-place match

00.00: (2.00) France (3.75) England (3.60)

Final

22.00: (2.35) Spain (3.00) Argentina (3.60)

***odds are subject to change***