8. Started Managing Real Madrid B Without Any Qualifications
After his retirement from professional football, Zidane filled a number of backroom roles at Real Madrid including Sporting Director and Assistant Manager. At the start of the 2014/2015 season, Zidane was announced as the new Head Coach of the Real Madrid "B" team, otherwise known as Castilla. The idea was for the Frenchman to gain experience coaching the club's promising youngsters before eventually making the step up to the big job. Unfortunately for him, the plan almost didn't get off the ground. Early in the season, he was reported to the Spanish F.A. by Miguel Galan, the director of the Spanish National Football Coach Education Centre. What could he have done wrong so early into his managerial career? The answer is that Zidane was attempting to manage to the team without, according to Galan, having all of his relevant qualifications. Basically, he didn't have the right coaching licence. Initially Madrid covered for this by having Zidane officially named as the "Assistant Manager" and his assistant, Santiago Sanchez, as the "Head Coach". The ol' switcheroo didn't fool Galan, but apparently it worked on the Spanish F.A. Let's hope he's got those badges now he's managing in La Liga!
David is an office drone and freelance writer for WhatCulture and Moviepilot, among others. He's also foolishly writing a serialised novel on Jukepop and has his own irregularly updated website. He's available for freelance work. Reach out on Twitter to @davefox990
