Luis Enrique has won the award for FIFA Coach Of The Year For Men’s Football 2015. Enrique won the treble with FC Barcelona in 2015 as he guided his team to titles in La Liga, the Copa del Rey, and the Champions League.
Enrique beat out two other finalists for the award, Pep Guardiola of FC Bayern Munich and Jorge Sampaoli of the Chilean national team.
Enrique did what many thought would be impossible last year: he managed to turn Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr., and Luis Suarez into the best attacking trio in the world. It was thought that three such individual talents could not coexist successfully on the pitch. Under Enrique, that notion has been thoroughly dismissed. MSN, as the trio is known, scored over 120 goals during the 14/15 campaign.
Pep Guardiola made it into the final group considered for the FIFA Coach Of The Year for men’s football because of his work turning Bayern Munich into one of the most progressive sides on the planet in terms of their positional interplay. He has successfully fielded traditional wingers in central midfielder roles, and even an “attacking center-back.” His Bayern side have won the Bundesliga with ease each year Guardiola has coached them, and they are one of the top three teams in the world.
Jorge Sampaoli has worked wonders with the Chilean national team, which is currently ranked 5th in the world after being ranked as low as 26th in 2012. Sampaoli has brought the best out of a team including superstars Alexis Sanchez and Arturo Vidal. Sampaoli won the 2015 Copa America this past summer, beating Argentina in the final on penalties.
Enrique’s ability to raise Barcelona’s level of play to such an immense level is a major reason that he has won FIFA Coach Of The Year For Men’s Football over Guardiola and Sampaoli. That many called for all three of Messi, Neymar, and Suarez to be finalists for the 2015 Ballon d’Or award for best player in the world is a testament to this.
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