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There are legendary footballers who have gone on to become successful coaches. Here are the top five great players that became great managers.
Kenny Dalglish
The legendary Scottish striker is considered one of the best players in the history of British football having enjoyed a lot of success as a footballer and coach.
Dalglish won the Ballon d'Or Silver Award in 1983 and inspired English giants Liverpool FC to three European Cups and six English league championships as a prolific striker.
Nicknamed King Kenny, Dalglish became player-manager of Liverpool in 1985 after the resignation of Joe Fagan and won a further three English league championships, two FA Cups and four FA Charity Shields.
King Kenny then led Blackburn Rovers to the 1994/95 Premier League title and Celtic to the 2000 Scottish League Cup as a manager, before guiding Liverpool to the English League Cup in 2012.
“Tremendous ability, skill, great touch on the ball and his reading of situations was 100 percent," former Celtic assistant manager Sean Fallon praised Dalgish on These Football Times.
"He was a boy, but once you actually looked at him, you’d sign him straight away.”
Johan Cruyff
The Dutch football icon is widely regarded as one of the best players in football history having lifted many trophies with Feyenoord, Ajax Amsterdam and FC Barcelona.
During his time with Dutch giants Ajax, Cruyff won 12 major trophies as a midfielder-cum-striker, before moving to Spain's Barcelona where he won La Liga and Copa Del Rey before he returned home and helped Feyenoord win the Eredivisie and KNVB Cup.
Cruyff was an exponent of the football philosophy known as ;Total Football' explored by Rinus Michels and is considered to be one of the most influential figures in football history.
The accomplished coach guided Ajax to three major trophies including the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, before moving to Barcelona where he won four La Liga titles, European Cup, Copa Del Rey, UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and UEFA Super Cup.
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Carlo Ancelotti
The Italian tactician played as a midfielder, who was very influential for Italian giants AC Milan and AS Roma during his playing days.
Nicknamed Carletto, Ancelotti won the Serie A title and four Coppa Italia trophies during his time with Roma, before moving to Milan where he lifted two league titles and two European Cups.
Carletto is now regarded as one of the best and most successful managers of all time having won domestic titles in Italy, England, France, Spain and Germany.
Ancelotti is one of only three managers to have won the UEFA Champions League three times and is also one of seven people to have won the European Cup or Champions League as both a player and a manager.
"A manager like Carlo with his incredible capacity, he is one of the smartest guys and always he is able - it doesn't matter which team he takes, he makes them work," Pep Guardiola on Ancelotti.
"I know him quite well. We played a few times against [each other], not much. His teams always beat our teams. He is an incredible gentleman. He conducted some of the greatest and more experienced teams in Europe, the list is huge. When that happens it's because you're an incredible manager.
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Zinedine Zidane
The French football icon is considered to be one of the best players of all time and has now become a very successful manager.
Zidane received many individual accolades as an immensely talented attacking midfielder-cum striker, including being named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1998, 2000 and 2003. He also won the 1998 Ballon d'Or.
The man known as Zizou won two Italian Serie A titles and UEFA Super Cup with Juventus, before moving to Real Madrid where he won the La Liga and UEFA Champions League having also clinched the FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Championship with France.
As a Real Madrid manager, Zizou has won the UEFA Champions League an unprecedented three times consecutively, won the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup twice, as well as a La Liga title, and a Supercopa de España.
Pep Guardiola
The Spanish tactician was one of the best defensive midfielders in the world during his time with Spanish football heavyweights, FC Barcelona.
Guardiola formed a key part of Johan Cruyff's Dream Team at Barcelona that won the club's first European Cup in 1992 and four successive La Liga titles from 1991 to 1994.
The former Spain international is now considered to be one of the greatest managers of all time and holds the record for the most consecutive league games won in La Liga, the German Bundesliga and the English Premier League.
Guardiola has won league titles in Spain, Germany and England and became the first manager to win the domestic treble in English men's football during the 2018/19 season.
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