After nearly 40 odd days of action-packed football across three countries, the World Cup is finally done and dusted, with Spain beating defending champions Argentina 1-0 in the final. The new Premier League season is however only about a month away, and we’ll see Arsenal, coached by Spaniard Mikel Arteta, defend the crown they won last season.
It’s often the dream of many a childhood footy fan to manage a club in the Prem- the biggest league in the world, and to do so in competition with your mates is the ultimate icing on the cake. This can be done on simulation games online like UFL on Mobile, which offers both PvP and PvE modes, has been backed by Cristiano Ronaldo and has the likes of Raphinha and Fede Valverde as its ambassadors. They also have a partnership with Vozinha, the Cape Verdean goalkeeper who went from obscurity to IG celebrity during the tournament with his stunning performance in the group stages against eventual winners Spain.
Somewhat interestingly, three young Spanish managers, who played together as children at the same club back in the Basque Country, will all be in charge of PL teams next season. One is Arsenal gaffer Arteta (born in March 1982), and the other two are Xabi Alonso (Chelsea; born in November 1981) and Andoni Iraola (Liverpool; born in June 1982). It’s quite incredible when one thinks of it- the trio are just seven odd months apart in age, and the clubs they’re managing aren’t small by any stretch of imagination- they’re all part of the big six in the Prem, and amongst the most well supported ones in the world.
Aston Villa gaffer Unai Emery is also Basque, albeit from a slightly different era compared to the troika of Alonso, Arteta and Iraola. Emery had a stellar season with Aston Villa in 25/26, guiding the Midlands outfit to a fourth-place finish in the league and landing silverware in form of the Europa League.
At the time of writing, about a quarter of the managers in the league in 26/27 will be Spanish, and among them will be a couple of folks who were players when Spain lifted their maiden World Cup crown in South Africa back in 2010- Alonso, and newly appointed Fulham manager Alvaro Arbeloa.
A big rebuilding job awaits both Alonso and Iraola at Chelsea and Liverpool next season. Both clubs- Liverpool in particular, are coming off disappointing campaigns. The Reds had a pretty ordinary 25-26 season, finishing a whopping 25 points behind leaders Arsenal and losing nearly a third of their games in the process. The results forced the Anfield leadership to part ways with manager Arne Slot and bring in Iraola in his place.
The Spaniard was excellent in his previous stint at Bournemouth- they managed European qualification for the first time in their history under him, and Liverpool potentially see him as a manager capable of having the same impact that Jurgen Klopp did at Anfield.
Alonso also has previous managerial pedigree- his Bayer Leverkusen team managed to wrest away the league crown from heavyweights Bayern, and they nearly went unbeaten throughout the whole season (both domestically and Europe) before losing the EL final to Atalanta.
With the departure of Guardiola and Klopp from the league, fans will be looking at this Basque quartet and the Italian duo of De Zerbi and Maresca for the next great league manager rivalry to emerge. And going by their past records, we have a fantastic, intensively competitive new league season to look forward to.