The 23rd World Cup is also remembered for the resignations of head coaches. After the first round of the group stage, the head coach of the Tunisia national team left his post. This team was eliminated in the group stage and the new head coach also resigned.
The South Korea, Czech Republic, Scotland, Uruguay teams that failed to pass the group round, as well as Germany, Netherlands, Ecuador national teams that were eliminated in the round of 16, also parted ways with their head coaches. Several other head coaches, including the coach of the Brazil national team, who ended their struggle in the round of 16, are facing calls to resign.
There is a saying in football: the team wins, the coach loses. That is, very often the head coach bears the main responsibility for the defeat. How fair is this approach?
Regarding this topic, Medianews.az interviewed Mahir Rüstəmli, editor-in-chief of the "Futbol+" newspaper and Football-plus.az website, who said that with the influence of the countries hosting DÇ-2026, especially the USA, an atmosphere mixing grandeur with celebration has been created around the tournament: “Although it seems somewhat strange to me, it seems as if all teams look at this tournament as their last chance, the final opportunity to prove their existence. Naturally, in such a case, results or lack of results come to the forefront. The person responsible for the result is the head coach.
Not all resignations can be viewed the same way. If four-time world champion Germany loses in the round of 16, the coach should go. The same goes for two-time world champion Uruguay. Even if they are not world champions, this applies to the Netherlands as well.
The World Cup is the pinnacle; resignations of coaches due to the result in this tournament are natural. On the other hand, such issues are usually agreed upon during a meeting between the federation leadership and the coach before the tournament. That is, an agreement is reached at the meeting: the coach explains how far they can carry the team, and the federation determines the monetary reward according to the target and goal. In short, I do not see any injustice in head coaches being sent to resign because of lack of results. Between us, there are so many places, so many fields where we should be looking for justice?!”
Nailə Qasımova,
Medianews.az