A number of former U21 managers have been successful while taking charge of the senior side.
Selecting national team managers has never been easy, especially for the elite sides with the long tradition of success and silverware or a very long title drought. Appointing the most successful gaffers from their own domestic competition or the best foreign managers as the ones who lead the national team does not always guarantee success either.
The U21 team boss is very often seen as the emergency or temporary option. Some surely succeeded, but some others did not, despite already winning the U20 World Cup, such as Portugal’s Carlos Queiroz and Argentina’s José Pékerman.
England is one of the elite sides that happens to be searching for the new head coach at the senior side. While the search was in progress, FA turned to the U21 team boss, Lee Carlsley, as a caretaker for six games in the UEFA Nations League.
The Three Lions appear to be looking for world-class managers who could end their title drought. They no longer consider naming U21 managers for the senior side, despite the advantage of knowing their players prior to their promotion to the senior side.
England has done it before when they opted Gareth Southgate in 2016 as Sam Allardyce’s successor. The former Middlesbrough and Aston Villa man was then the head coach of the U21 side. Although Southgate’s stint with England was satisfactory, with reaching EURO finals twice and semifinal in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, FA prefers a title-winning manager such as Thomas Tuchel as his successor to Lee Carsley. The latter was no longer a considerable candidate, especially after losing to Greece in Wembley last week.
Nevertheless, there have been several ex-U21 team managers who were able to win silverware with the senior side. These names were a great example of them.
Luis de la Fuente
The 63-year-old gaffer was relatively unknown before his success with La Furia Roja in winning the 2023 UEFA Nations League and EURO 2024. His last job at the senior level was with Alavés in 2011 but ended up badly as he was sacked in the middle of the season.
His misery turned into fortune when he took charge of Spain U19 in 2013. He has been working for the national team at all levels since then and clinched four titles. Prior to lifting the Nations League trophy, the former Athletic Bilbao man has won EURO U19 and U21 in 2015 and 2019, respectively, plus snatched a silver medal in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Richard Møller Nielsen
Another EURO winner is also one of the former U20 team bosses who snatched a title in the top level, despite being underrated throughout his managerial career. Richard Møller Nielsen remains the only manager in history who won international trophies for Denmark.
He gained his first unlikely success in EURO 1992 when he surprisingly brought Peter Schmeichel and co to snatch the title after beating Germany 2-0 in the final. Nielsen then went on to deliver another trophy three years later in the FIFA Confederation Cup. Denmark managed to crush Argentina 2-0 in the final despite playing without Peter Schmeichel during the competition. The Great Dane did not get his club’s permission to join the squad.
His tenure with the Denmark national team began in 1978, when he was named the U21 team manager. The Odense-born boss was at the helm of the youth side till 1989. Nielsen also worked under his predecessor, Sepp Piontek, as the assistant manager between 1987 and 1990.
Óscar Tabárez
The former Uruguay boss in two World Cup editions, 1990, 2010, 2014, and 2018, had been working for the U20 team too previously. He was in charge of the youth side in two spells, in 1983 and 1987. In the first stint, he guided the U20 side to win the Pan American Games.
Tabárez’s first tenure on the senior side was in the late 1980s. He led Enzo Francescoli and Co. to become runner-up in the Copa America in 1989 but failed to progress further than the round of 16 in the 1990 FIFA World Cup. El Maestro’s return to the international stage in the mid-2000s seemed to bear fruit as he brought Uruguay to reach the semi-final in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, or their best performance in 40 years.
Such was followed by their peak form in Copa America 2011 when they stunned the host, Argentina, on penalties at the quarterfinal and clinched their 15th trophy. It is their first international title since 1995 and the last one at the senior level ever since.
Bertie Vogts
The former Gladbach man was once working under Franz Beckenbauer as his assistant for Die Mannschaft from 1986 to 1990 before taking over the head coach role when Der Kaiser resigned.
Previously, he was in charge of the West Germany U21 side from 1979 to 1990, with a runner-up in the 1987 FIFA U20 World Cup being his best result. At that time, his team lost to Yugoslavia with their remarkable talents, who became stars later, such as Davor Šuker, Zvonimir Boban, and Robert Prosinečki, on penalties in the final.
Vogts was the last gaffer who won major titles for Germany before Joachim Low in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The former defender did it in EURO 1996, or four years after losing to Denmark in Sweden in 1992. Unfortunately, he relied too much on senior names until the end of his stint, when Germany shockingly suffered a 3-0 defeat to Croatia at the 1998 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal.