Roy Hodgson: from an unknown player to a worthy coach

One of the most controversial figures of English football is the former England coach Roy Hodgson. He was born on August 9, 1947 in London. In 2012, Hodgson was appointed to the post of head coach of the England national team, but to achieve something special he did not succeed until 2016. After the European Championship 2016, which was held in France, Hodgson left his post.

Unsuccessful player career

Roy Hodgson was not the highest level player. His career as a player could have developed quite differently if he could have got into the main part of the football club Crystal Palace, but this did not happen, and Roy went to play in low-grade teams. Speaking for the weak clubs, to make a name for himself in England, he had no chance. But he decided to become a coach, even though he did not have any connections and a name in world football. Nobody knew who Hodgson was. In this situation, the best option was to travel abroad.

Coach career

After working for a while as one of the assistant coaches at the Maidstone United football club, Roy Hodgson was able to get a certain base that gave him the opportunity to find his first club in a coaching career. The team where Roy started his coaching career is Halmstad, who struggled to survive before the arrival of the Englishman. For four years the club won the national championship twice, and in the 1977/78 season the coach made his debut in European competition.

He became a well-known coach when he worked in Switzerland. For a long time the national team of Switzerland could not get to the world championships. But then Roy Hodgson was appointed as head coach. The 1994 World Cup was the first in the career of the coach and the first for his team for the last 28 years, and the Euro 1996 - for 36 years.

England squad in the beginning of the 21st century suffered from perturbations on the coaching bridge. In the spring of 2012, Roy Hodgson was appointed head coach of the team. The coach received his first serious challenge immediately after the appointment. The Euro 2012 Championship, which was held in Ukraine, was the first test for the Englishman as head coach of the England team. You can not call the performance of the national team successful. The team with great difficulties and scandal associated with the uncommitted goal of the national team of Ukraine, was in the playoffs of the tournament. Already in the first round of games at the start of England met with Italy and lost in a series of post-match penalties. In 2014, at the World Championships in Brazil, the team could not even leave the group, and in 2016 lost in the quarterfinals of the European team of Iceland.

Work outside the coaching bench

Roy Hodgson worked not only as a coach of national teams and football clubs. During the World Cup in 2006, which was held in Germany, he was a member of the technical research group of UEFA. He also held this position at several European championships.

Roy speaks five languages, and this gave him the opportunity to work as a football expert on television in the countries where his coaching career came.

Intermediate results of coaching career

For his long coaching career Hodgson had the opportunity to train a lot of clubs. The most famous of them were Liverpool and Inter. In addition, Roy was the coach of several national teams, including his own. But if with the national team of Switzerland he was able to earn a name in world football, then training the England team, he could not achieve any special results.

The English coach managed to win four times the Swedish Championship (twice with Malmö and Halmstad), two Swedish Cups, the championship and the Super Cup of Denmark with Copenhagen. Training English "Fulham", Hodgson was able to reach the final of the first drawing of the League of Europe in the 2009/10 season. This achievement can be considered the most significant in the career of an English manager.