Contract extended, award received: Argentinian national soccer coach Lionel Scaloni has been named World Coach 2022 by FIFA a few hours after extending his contract until 2026.
The 44-year-old beat Real Madrid’s Carlo Ancelotti and Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola at the FIFA Gala in Paris. He succeeds Jürgen Klopp (2019/2020) and Thomas Tuchel (2021), who received the award in previous years for their successes with Liverpool FC and Chelsea FC.
Shortly before, the Argentine Football Association (AFA) had announced after a conversation between association boss Claudio Tapia and Scaloni on the sidelines of the award for World Footballer of the Year in Paris that the coach should also lead the Albiceleste to the next World Cup in just over three years. Scaloni led Argentina around superstar Lionel Messi to their third title at the World Cup in Qatar last year.
The year before, the team already won the Copa America. The 44-year-old former defender Scaloni has been coaching the Argentine national team since 2018. “When there is trust, communication is simple and effective,” Tapia wrote on Twitter above a photo of the two men together. At the end of March, the Argentine national team meets Panama and Curaçao in two friendlies.
