700. Spiel
©IMAGO
Diego Simeone is indestructibly expanding his legendary status at Atlético Madrid. New milestone for the Argentine in the Colchoneros coaching bench: On Saturday against Alavés (2-1), he added game number 700 to his impressive Atlético record. This value is unparalleled among active coaches in the top leagues. Historically, at the highest European level, there are only five trainers with more games at one club.
Since the 2011/12 season, when Simeone took over at Atlético in the middle of the season, there have been 492 LaLiga games, 109 in the Champions League. In 699 competitive games, Atlético achieved 413 wins and 153 draws under him (update: another win followed in the 700th Atlético game). Only 133 matches were lost. 1.99 points per game (knockout wins counted as three points) is an unrivaled top value for all Atlético coaches with at least 50 games. The club won eight titles under him, became Spanish champions twice and won the Europa League twice.
In top Spanish football, Simeone’s 700-game mark far exceeds the runner-up: Miguel Muñoz played 583 games at Real Madrid between 1959 and 1974. In the upper house of the top 5 countries England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France, the Manchester United and Arsenal icons Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsène Wenger, who seem unattainable even for Simeone, can also be found in history.
Most games as a coach in top leagues with Ferguson and Schaaf
Wenger coached Arsenal’s teams in 1,234 competitive games between 1996 and 2018, while Ferguson coached the Red Devils from Manchester in 1,492 games across all competitions from 1986 to 2013. Third place goes to Frenchman Guy Roux, a legend at AJ Auxerre, who he led to the Ligue 1 championship title in 1,113 games, including in 1996.
In the Bundesliga, Otto Rehhagel and Thomas Schaaf both made their way into the history books with Werder Bremen. 668 or 645 competitive games in league and cup competitions are unsurpassed in the German upper house, but Rehhagel also includes twelve second division games with the Green-Whites in the balance, with which he led SVW back to the Bundesliga. Frank Schmidt coached 1. FC Heidenheim in 638 games at the time of publication, the vast majority of which were in the lower divisions.
The most games played by a German coach outside the Bundesliga go to Jürgen Klopp, who was recently overtaken at a Premier League club by long-time rival Pep Guardiola (490 at Manchester City). Klopp said goodbye in the summer after more than nine years with 489 competitive games at Liverpool FC. Christian Streich also made exactly the same number of appearances at SC Freiburg, albeit in the 2nd Bundesliga in one season.
