Leading by Example

Lesson eight is about soccer as a leadership opportunity. This chapter highlights new leadership insights, which break down the static conception between leaders and followers, to argue that soccer is a leadership opportunity for all of us. In soccer, it’s irrelevant whether we are young or old, men or women, or players, coaches, administrators, or fans. Soccer is a terrain to exercise our leadership skills, whether we are amateurs or professionals; whether we are in official positions of leadership, or far from official leadership roles. Winning and losing mirrors the high and lows associated with life and also provides us with excellent leadership opportunities.

Soccer’s leadership opportunities apply to people of all ages, nations, cultures, faiths, genders, or sexual orientations. These leadership opportunities are available to players at the amateur and professional levels, FIFA administrators, officials leading national federations, coaches, referees, managers, journalists, and even companies and advertisers connected to soccer. From soccer’s ups and downs, from winning and losing to injuries and personal adversities, we can learn leadership qualities that will allow us to grow as individuals. Jorge Valdano, a winner of the 1986 World Cup with Argentina and the former General Manager of Real Madrid, argues that soccer is akin to a “school of life,” offering us countless leadership opportunities and lessons for self-improvement.^[1] Individual leadership and growth also allows organizations associated with the game to change for the good of the game and for the benefit of all those associated with soccer.

All this begs the question: What is leadership? From the leadership courses I taught in Toronto, here are eleven key lessons with respect to leadership:

We also can enhance our leadership insights by determining what leadership experts say about leadership. Today leadership is a burgeoning industry. There are leadership associations, research centers, and training courses around the world. There are leadership B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. programs, particularly in the United States and Britain. Leadership insights are said to be applicable for businesses, human resources departments, management studies, politics, sports, philosophy, ethics, education, and numerous other realms of existence. There are leadership journals and leadership experts. In short, there is growing knowledge about leadership and a plethora of leadership courses. Yet leadership is often a contested concept. Moreover, are we producing better leaders?

Veronica Bishop,^[2] author of Leadership for Nursing and Allied Health Care Professions (2009) and a visiting professor of nursing at City University (London, UK), does not define leadership itself, yet provides useful characteristics and insights associated with leadership:

In his book Los 11 Poderes Del Líder (The 11 Powers of the Leader), Jorge Valdano argues that a leader has the following characteristics and that soccer is a natural place to exercise one’s leadership skills:^[3]

Leadership studies are also full of examples of either competent and visionary leaders, or “toxic leaders.” British prime minister Winston Churchill was considered a visionary leader for his role in rallying Britain and the Allied powers in defeating Nazism. Adolf Hitler, on the other hand, was viewed as a “toxic leader” who was excessively authoritarian, refused to create dialogue about alternative courses of action, engaged in childish behavior, and was obsessed with an unethical and scientifically indefensible racialist worldview.

A definition of leadership provided by Peter Northouse, professor emeritus of communication in the School of Communication at Western Michigan University, is simple and elegant: “A process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.”^[4] From this aforementioned definition, it follows that: 1) leadership is a process of interaction; 2) it involves influencing others; 3) it takes place in groups; 4) it connotes goal attainment; and 5) the goals are shared by leaders and their followers. Northouse’s definition can be praised for its simplicity. Yet the definition has no ethical component and could thus mean that a Churchill or Hitler could be pooled together in the same category as great leaders. We might combine the definition offered by Northhouse with the definition of ethical leadership provided by the Center for Ethical Leadership based in Seattle, Washington: “Ethical leadership is knowing your core values and having the courage to live them in all parts of your life in service of the common good.”^[5]

Before delving into the leadership lessons of soccer, I need to examine my choices for the number 8 jersey. The choices are getting tougher as players wearing higher numbers typically gain more recognition than other players because of their playmaking or scoring exploits.

Jersey #8: Leaders in the Midfield

The number 8 is an inside right (forward), a second forward, or midfield playmaker. He sets up goals and also scores his fair share of goals. The second striker usually plays behind the center-forward or main striker. A number 8 typically plays in a very advanced forward position and is there to score goals. The number 8 often has less defensive responsibilities than a midfielder, but the best number 8s, such as Liverpool’s and England’s Steven Gerrard, do their fair share of quality defending.

In this chapter, I opted to choose a few number 8s from various continents in order to advance the notion that leadership takes place around the globe in different epochs and it transcends cultural barriers. The contemporary players selected are the following: Xavi Hernández (Spain), Steven Gerrard (England), and Clint Dempsey (United States).

Xavi represents leadership on the field through his mastery in midfield, but also for his off-the-field mediation skills. Jorge Valdano points out that FC Barcelona’s Xavi and his Real Madrid counterpart Iker Casillas exercised concrete leadership skills:^[6] they would speak on the phone regularly in order to minimize the “toxic” atmosphere of the derby matches and to prevent the breaking of the “magic” associated with the triumphs of the Spanish national team after it won the World Cup in 2010 (many Spanish internationals either play for FC Barcelona or Real Madrid). Dempsey embodies leadership contributions on and off the field. The United States international grew up in a Texas trailer park, lost his sister Jennifer Dempsey to a brain aneurysm, and became a superstar striker in England (Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur) and the captain of the USA national team.^[7] Since becoming captain of the USA national soccer team in 2013, Dempsey led the United States to World Cup qualification and won high praise from his German coach Jürgen Klinsmann: “Having Clint Dempsey on your team is a privilege and he is one of the best players in U.S. history.”^[8] Yet in an interview with The Wall Street Journal in 2013, Klinsmann challenged Dempsey’s talent level: “[Dempsey] hasn’t made s—. You play for Fulham? Yeah, so? Show me you can play for a Champions League team, and then you start on a Champions League team. There is always another level. If one day you reach the highest level then you’ve got to confirm it, every year.”^[9] One writer suggests that Dempsey “appeared to take Klinsmann’s remarks as a challenge responding with good form for both his club and the national team, leaving very little room for criticism from the U.S. coach.”^[10] Gerrard embodies leadership on the field, but also off the field in overcoming life’s obstacles. Zinedine Zidane, a representative of chapter 5, said the following about Gerrard, thus highlighting his leadership qualities, including passion, talent, ability to engender team unity and success (Jorge Valdano), and genetic, circumstantial, or learned talent (Veronica Bishop):

Xavi

Barcelona and Spain midfield general Xavi is a brilliant player, true professional, and embodies leadership on and off the soccer field. Born in Terrassa, Catalonia (Spain) in 1980, Xavi is a product of Barcelona’s demanding La Masia youth system since the age of eleven. Xavi progressed through the youth and reserve teams and was a key member of the FC Barcelona B team that won promotion to the Second Division. Since 1998, he has made over 450 appearances for Barcelona and scored fifty-five goals. For Spain, Xavi has played 130 matches and scored thirteen goals.

Xavi wears the number 8 for Spain and number 6 for Barcelona, while his partner-in-crime Iniesta wears number 8 for Barcelona and number 6 for Spain. While Argentinean striker Lionel Messi, Xavi’s Barcelona teammate, receives more accolades than the Spanish midfield star, Xavi has won more trophies than the Argentinean superstar. Messi won the prestigious Ballon d’Or in 2009 and the FIFA Ballon d’Or in 2010, 2011, and 2012, thus joining an elite group consisting of Dutchmen Johan Cruyff and Marco van Basten and Frenchman Michel Platini. Yet Messi has not been able to win a major tournament with Argentina, except for the gold medal at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. While Xavi finished third in the Ballon d’Or nominations in 2009, 2010, and 2011, the Spaniard has won far more collective trophies for both club and country. Playing for Spain, Xavi won the 2010 World Cup and two European Nations’ Championships in 2008 and 2010. In addition, Xavi won a silver medal for Spain at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Interestingly, Xavi did finish ahead of Messi in one major competition: The IFFHS voting for World’s Best Playmaker in 2012 saw Iniesta finish first (146 votes), Xavi second (128 votes), and Messi third (98 votes). Yet Xavi won the title in the same competition for four consecutive years in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2011.

Xavi is in a play-making and success league of his own. He has won a whopping twenty-five trophies, more than any Spanish player in history. He has also won more domestic trophies (twenty-two) than any other Spanish player in history, all with FC Barcelona:

Thus, there is no doubt about Xavi’s play-making talent, a key attribute of leadership. If we recall Valdano’s eleven leadership traits, Xavi demonstrates many of those characteristics: credibility, passion, talent, style, simplicity, promotion of team unity, and attaining success. His credibility was enhanced by regularly chatting with his Real Madrid counterpart Casillas and thus promoting the continued unity and success of the Spanish national team. His trophies are a testament to his success for club and country. He is extremely talented, as highlighted by his four consecutive World’s Best Playmaker awards. Xavi is relatively short (five feet seven inches) but talented. Yet Valdano uses Xavi to point out how management has a tendency to mistakenly push for players who are taller and more physically imposing rather than merely assessing raw talent.^[12] While his style of play is extremely technical, he plays simple soccer. Valdano is adamant that Xavi’s leadership is based on the power of his talent and performance on the field: he hardly loses a single ball in midfield; dominates possession and hence tires his opponents; makes pinpoint passes into the opponent’s dangerous penalty area; his passing, pin-point control, and constant movement are his specialties; and he is always calm, meticulous, and a huge performer on the field.^[13] As Xavi stated with respect to his on-field vision and accurate passing: “That’s what I do: look for spaces. All day. I’m always looking.”^[14] Xavi possesses what Valdano calls a capacity for “synthesis” that is “genius” because he outwits his opponents, often finds teammates in dangerous scoring positions, or can also score himself.^[15]

Xavi is undoubtedly one of the greatest midfielders of all time, as well as the most gifted playmaker of his generation. Named the 2008 European Championship player of the tournament, Xavi was masterful when Spain defeated Germany 1–0 in the final. He was truly dominant in midfield, made an assist, tackled, ran tirelessly, and led Spain to their first major trophy since the 1964 European Championship. In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Xavi led Spain to its first World Cup title and provided the most passes and balls crossed inside the dangerous eighteen-yard box. It is estimated that he ran more than 15 km (9.3 miles) in the finals. In the 2012 European Championship finals, he set up two goals and became the first player to assist in two European Championship finals. In short, Xavi is a talented leader on the field, thus earning the moniker “Puppet Master.”

Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard is the captain and central midfielder for Liverpool FC and England. Born the same year as Xavi in Whiston (Merseyside), England, in 1980, he has played for only one club, Liverpool, for his entire career. This is a rarity in today’s professional soccer where club transfers are frequent. Gerrard loves the legendary Liverpool club, even refusing more lucrative offers from other European clubs. He has been recognized as a soccer leader through his Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) title, which he gained in 2007. Gerrard was picked as the England Player of the Year in 2007, Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year in 2006, and won the UEFA Club Footballer of the Year and the bronze medal in the Ballon d’Or voting in 2005. Thus, if we follow Valdano’s ideas about the importance of a leader’s talent and his ability to attain success, Gerrard is a leader.

In 2013, Gerrard reached a milestone with his one hundredth Liverpool goal. He has made more than 450 appearances for Liverpool since 1998. Gerrard began his England career in 2000, amassing over 105 caps and twenty-one goals. He has represented his country at the 2000 and 2004 European Championships, as well as the 2006 and 2010 World Cups. At the 2010 World Cup, he was England’s top goal scorer with two goals, in the absence of an attacking thrust from the strikers. At the 2010 World Cup he first captained England, as regular captain Rio Ferdinand missed the tournament due to an injury. Gerrard became England’s permanent captain before the 2012 European Championship. As a result of his outstanding performance at the 2012 European Championship, including three assists in the first round, Gerrard was named to the tournament all-star squad.

There is no doubt that Gerrard is one of the greatest English soccer players ever. Perhaps only Kenny Dalglish for Liverpool was at Gerrard’s level in terms of skill, performance, and commitment. Zinedine Zidane, one of the representatives of chapter 5, called Gerrard one of the best soccer players in the world in 2009.^[16] In 2010, The Guardian honored Gerrard by placing him on their World XI team, which is a list of the eleven greatest soccer players of all time.^[17]

A leader also makes the entire team (club and country) better, insisted Valdano. Recall that Northouse argued that leadership is interactive; it involves influencing others, it takes place in groups, it connotes goal attainment, and the goals are shared by leaders and their followers. Gerrard makes his entire team play better. A leader, insisted Bayern Munich’s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola at a conference in Buenos Aires, is “one who makes the other better.”^[18] Gerrard is that leader and he rises to the occasion for major matches: he is the only soccer player to have scored a goal in an FA Cup Final, a League Cup Final, a UEFA Cup final, and a Champions League final. He has won the European Champions League Cup (2004–2005), a UEFA Cup (2000–2001) title, two FA Cups (2000–2001 and 2005–2006), and three League Cups (2000–2001, 2002–2003, and 2011–2012). When Liverpool was down 3–0 at the half against AC Milan in the Champions League finals in the 2004–2005 season, he rallied Liverpool to a historic 4–3 win in penalties. Gerrard scored one goal and helped make another when he was fouled by AC Milan’s Gattuso in the box. It was one of the most dramatic comebacks ever witnessed in the history of soccer. It evoked comparisons with Portugal’s dramatic comeback led by the great Eusébio against North Korea in the 1966 World Cup, reversing a 3–0 score to win 5–3.

Gerrard is also a leader because of his versatility, playing as a defensive midfielder, offensive midfielder, right defender, or even second striker. Like a true captain, his attitude is positive: he does what is necessary for club and country. His endless running in defense, crunching and diving tackles, and howling goals with his blistering right foot (sometimes from outlandish distances), are inspirational for the entire team. Recall that leadership is about attitude, your hopeful attitude in any given moment of life, in a life that is transitory. It is also about getting dirty, working hard, and maintaining discipline in search of your team’s goals. Gerrard possesses all these aforementioned qualities.

Gerrard is all heart and inspirational leadership by example. In his autobiography, he ends with a very touching line: “I play for Jon-Paul.”^[19] Gerrard’s cousin, Jon-Paul Gilhooley, was killed in the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy. Gerrard was only eight at the time and already an avid soccer fan. Sadly Jon-Paul was only ten when he died, the youngest of the ninety-six victims of the Hillsborough disaster. Gerrard insists that Jon-Paul’s death spurred him to be a great, inspirational player.

The Hillsborough tragedy was caused by a human crush and a panic, and it occurred during the FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest on April 15, 1989, at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England. To add to the ninety-six dead, there were 766 injuries in the tragedy. The disaster is the worst stadium disaster in British history and one of the worst in world soccer history. The official report of the Hillsborough tragedy, the 1990 Taylor Report, insisted that lack of police control was the main cause of the panic. As professor of criminology at Queen’s University (Belfast), Phil Scraton, noted, Hillsborough was “an avoidable disaster.”^[20] A 2012 report cited the failures of emergency services and other public officials, as well as attempts to conceal the truth. As a result of the Hillsborough tragedy, standing terraces at all soccer stadiums in England, Scotland, and Wales were eliminated.

Leadership is also about inspiring hope, argued Valdano. Gerrard has used his cousin Jon-Paul’s tragic death to inspire hope in himself, teammates, and Liverpool fans. He understands that Jon-Paul could have been him, or any other youngster in England or around the world who is taken to a soccer match by a father, mother, cousin, or friend. He understands that in the face of the pain and hardship of Jon-Paul’s loss, soccer is merely a game. In being true to Jon-Paul, his family, and the memory of the Hillsborough dead, Gerrard is also invoking the spirit of Liverpool’s chillingly beautiful anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone”:

Gerrard is that leader who converted a family loss into heroic moments for both Liverpool FC and England. Gerrard also faced more adversity when in 2007 he mistakenly hit a ten-year-old cyclist in Southport, who shot unexpectedly into Gerrard’s path. The boy is a Wayne Rooney fan, and Gerrard visited him in the hospital to present him with a pair of boots signed by the Manchester United and England star.^[21] He is a talented leader, has overcome life’s obstacles, and gives more than 100 percent on the pitch both offensively and defensively. Gerrard is not perfect, but he always sullies his kit and this is also the sign of a leader. He gives everything on the pitch for his club and country.

While Steven Gerrard is a brilliant number 8, remember that in the introduction I pointed out that our choices for different lessons need to reflect the notion that soccer is a sport played by cultures and countries around the globe.

Clint Dempsey

The United States of America is not traditionally known as a soccer nation, but that is changing with the solid performances of the men’s team at numerous World Cup tournaments, as well as the successes of the women’s national team. The “Stars and Stripes” reached the semi-final at the inaugural World Cup in 1930, finishing third. This is the highest finish of any CONCACAF country at a World Cup tournament. The United States qualified for the 1934 World Cup, and then caused a stir at the 1950 World Cup in Brazil, defeating England 1–0 in their second group match. Yet the United States had to wait until 1990 before they qualified for the World Cup again.

The United States qualified automatically as hosts of the 1994 World Cup, losing to Brazil in the second round. Since 1994, the United States has been on a remarkable run and is no longer seen as a soccer pushover. The national team has qualified for every World Cup from 1994 to 2014. In the 2014 World Cup qualifying, it managed a respectable 0–0 tie against Mexico at the fabled Azteca stadium and a 2–0 triumph in Columbus, Ohio. Moreover, the United States reached the quarterfinals of the 2002 World Cup, where they narrowly lost to Germany 1–0.

In both 2005 and 2007, Dempsey helped the United States win the CONCACAF Gold Cup. In 2009, the United States reached the final of the FIFA Confederations Cup, defeating top-ranked Spain 2–0 in the semi-finals, but lost to Brazil 3–2 in an entertaining final.

While a number of players have been instrumental in the resurgence of the “Stars and Stripes” since the 1990s, including Eric Wynalda, Claudio Reyna, Kasey Keller, Marcelo Balboa, DaMarcus Beasley, and Landon Donovan, Clinton Drew “Clint” Dempsey has been a star and leader of the USA national team since his international debut in 2004. He wears the number 8 jersey for the USA national team and was handed the captain’s armband for crucial qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup against Costa Rica and Mexico. Playing as a striker or attacking midfielder, the USA international has made 101 appearances for his country and is second in all-time national team goals (thirty-six). Dempsey had a long, illustrious career in England with Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur from 2007 to 2013 (fifty-seven combined goals and over 200 Premier League appearances), and in 2013 signed with the Seattle Sounders FC for a transfer fee of US$9 million.^[22] Dempsey holds the record for most goals (fifty-seven) by an American in the English Premier League. He was the Fulham Player of the season twice in 2010–2011 and 2011–2012, while in the 2009–2010 season he helped the London-based club to reach the finals of the UEFA Europa League. Dempsey also finished fourth for the Premiership Player of the Year voting in 2011–2012.

Dempsey was born on March 9, 1983, near the Mexican border in Nacogdoches, Texas. He embraced the town’s Latino influences. He played for one of the best youth soccer clubs in Texas, the Dallas Texans, and later Furman University. The Dempsey family lived with little means in a trailer in the backyard of Dempsey’s grandparents’ house. “Nothing was ever given to Clint. He had to work, I always felt like, twice as hard to get what maybe some other people already had,” said his mother Debbie.^[23] The experience shaped his character and creative style.^[24]

In 2004, Dempsey joined the Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. He had a major jaw injury, but still scored twenty-five goals in seventy-one appearances for the New England outfit from 2004 to 2006. He helped the Revolution win the MLS Cup for two consecutive seasons in 2005 and 2006. He then caught the eyes of English scouts who were impressed by his no-nonsense style, commitment, and goal-scoring skills. From 2007 to 2012, Dempsey played for Premier League club Fulham. He is the club’s highest Premier League goal scorer of all time (fifty goals).

Internationally, Dempsey has played for the United States in two World Cups (2006 and 2010), while he helped the “Stars and Stripes” qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. In the 2006 World Cup in Germany, Dempsey scored the team’s only goal of the tournament. In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, Dempsey scored against England, becoming only the second American, after Brian McBride, to score goals in multiple World Cup tournaments. Dempsey has also scored big goals for the United States against Spain and Brazil in the Confederations Cup, England in the World Cup, and the game winner against Italy in a friendly in 2012.

Dempsey’s leadership is on the field: he was captain of the USA national team with a fiercely competitive nature. He has performed admirably in England and Europe with two top Premier League clubs, Fulham and Tottenham Hotspur. Moreover, Dempsey has battled several key injuries, including jaw and knee injuries, to come back stronger and more determined to win. Dempsey has been accused of playing rough, including injuring several players throughout his career, but this is a product of his sheer tenacity and determination to win, rather than malice.

Dempsey’s leadership is also off the field. That is why his national team coach Jürgen Klinsmann handed him the captain’s armband for key qualifying matches for the 2014 World Cup. As a youth, Dempsey sometimes had trouble meeting commitments to soccer because of family financial problems and time constraints. His sister was a major tennis prospect, but as pointed out earlier, Dempsey lost his sixteen-year-old sister Jennifer to a brain aneurysm in 1995. This made Dempsey even more determined to be a soccer star and to honor the memory of his deceased sister. In conjunction with Texas rappers XO and Big Hawk, the soccer star recorded a hip-hop video for Nike for the 2006 World Cup, which is dedicated to the memory of his sister. The song is called “Don’t Tread” and the refrain is the catchy “Don’t tread on Clint.”^[25] The song seeks to capitalize on Dempsey’s working-class roots to sell the game in the United States. Recall that in chapter 7 I explored the marketing appeal of soccer. In chapter 11, I will highlight the relationship between soccer and fine arts, including videos and songs.

In 2013, Dempsey made a bold decision to sign for the Seattle Sounders and leave Tottenham Hotspur, a club that plays in arguably the best league in the world. Dempsey was allegedly not satisfied with his playing time at the London-based club and the World Cup was around the corner in 2014. A great leader wants to always play and perform well on and off the pitch. His former coach at Nacogdoches High School, Farshid Niroumand, insists that Dempsey is a leader because of his talent and that his European sojourn downplayed his talents:

His former teammate at Furman University, Anthony Esquivel, saw in Dempsey leadership traits highlighted by Veronica Bishop, in which leaders meet challenges and move forward rather than remaining complacent:

According to one astute commentator, Dempsey gained the captain’s armband above other players (for example, Michael Bradley or Tim Howard) because of his talent, passion, and ability to bring team unity, three key leadership traits cited by Valdano:

Dempsey’s style of leadership is not always the most vocal on the field. Yet even this is changing since he received the captain’s armband: during the U.S.’s 4–3 win against Germany in 2013, “Dempsey was more than vocal with late-game substitute Terrence Boyd when Boyd lost possession several times when the U.S. was holding onto a late lead.”^[29] Remember Guardiola’s notion that a leader makes the whole team improve. It was echoed by Seattle Sounders FC Nigerian star Obafemi Martins after Dempsey was signed in 2013: “Dempsey’s a good player so he’s going to be good for me and Eddie [Johnson] and Lamar [Neagle] as well and the other players because we need good players on the team.”^[30] A good leader also has the support of his teammates and leads through his example: “He definitely has the respect of players in this camp. He’s one of those players who you like to see leading by example,”^[31] the U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan insisted after Dempsey was handed the captain’s armband.

Leadership Case Studies

At this juncture, I take these aforementioned definitions and the insights about leadership and apply them to a number of case studies of soccer players (male and female), coaches, administrators, journalists (announcers), and fans. For players, I use the examples of anti-apartheid soccer players and prisoners at Robben Island in South Africa and the retired USA international Julie Foudy. For coaches, I contrast the successful leadership skills of José Mourinho and Alex Ferguson and the “toxic leadership” of former French national team coach Raymond Domenech at the 2010 World Cup. For administrators, I examine ways in which FIFA officials can demonstrate better, more ethical, and more inclusive leadership. For soccer journalists, I use the examples of play-by-play announcer Andrés Cantor. Finally, I use a few examples of how soccer fans have taken leadership responsibilities by controlling, or partially controlling, their beloved clubs.

Numerous soccer stars have demonstrated leadership on and off the pitch. Donald Simpson Bell VC (1890–1916) was an English schoolteacher and professional soccer player who died in World War I. During World War I, Simpson Bell was awarded the Victoria Cross for his heroic acts of bravery in the Somme.^[32] Justin Fashanu was an English striker who played for a variety of clubs between 1978 and 1997 and was best remembered for his stellar performances with Norwich and Notts County. He had the leadership to be the first and only English professional player to openly declare his homosexuality.^[33] In chapter 4, I pointed out that Fashanu tragically took his life in 1998. I also highlighted a new openness toward gay players in Britain and North America, including anti-homophobia initiatives in professional soccer.

Julie Foudy was a midfielder for the U.S. women’s national soccer team from 1987 until 2004. She was capped 271 times by her country and scored forty-one goals. She also played professionally for the San Diego Spirit of the Women’s United Soccer Association, which was founded in 2000 and began its first season in 2001. She served as the USA team’s co-captain from 1991 to 2000 and the captain from 2000 until her retirement in 2004. Foudy won two World Cups in 1991 and 1999 and two Olympic gold medals in 1996 and 2004, as well as an Olympic silver medal in 2000.

The leadership of professional women players such as retired USA international Julie Foudy is indeed heartwarming. July Foudy has her own school, The Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy, which teaches twelve- to eighteen-year-old girls and women the power of leadership skills both on and off the field.^[34] Foudy insists that “sports gave me my voice” and she wants to now use soccer to give “voice” to a new generation of female soccer players.

Due to a history of rampant sexism, women’s soccer was not taken seriously before the 1990s. Women players were taken more seriously when female stars, such as Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm (a double winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year award), and Brandi Chastain, emerged in the United States. World soccer stars, such as Japan’s Homore Sawa, China’s Sun Wen, Germany’s Birgit Prinz, and Brazil’s Marta, increased the seriousness of the women’s game. Administrators and coaches of the women’s game also played a key role in making women’s soccer professional, exciting, and entertaining. At the 2011 World Cup, the average attendance per match was approximately 26,000 fans. At the 2012 Olympics in London, 80,000 fans saw the United States defeat Japan 2–1 in the finals at Wembley Stadium. The record for a women’s World Cup final was set in Los Angeles in July 1999 when about 90,000 fans saw the United States beat China.

In a far different context, anti-apartheid activists who were imprisoned on Robben Island used soccer in order to keep their dreams alive of a better world based on freedom and the abolition of apartheid. The prisoners included famous anti-apartheid heroes: 1993 Nobel Prize winner and president of South Africa Nelson Mandela (1994–1999), Kgalema Petrus Motlanthe (South Africa’s president from 2008 to 2009), and Jacob Zuma, president of South Africa since 2009.

Robben Island housed a who’s-who of resistance to white-led apartheid South Africa, including the key leaders of the African National Congress, the militant anti-apartheid organization. Robben Island prisoners included the poet Dennis Brutus, the current mayor of Johannesburg Amos Masondo, the leader of the Soweto Uprising Murphy Morobe, and future Namibian politicians.

Robben Island is an island about 7 km (4.3 miles) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. Anti-apartheid hero and current South African president Jacob Zuma spent 27 and 10 years, respectively, on Robben Island. Today Robben Island is a reminder of the horrors of the apartheid era and a United Nations World Heritage site. Sepp Blatter, the current FIFA president, visited Robben Island in the run-up to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and insisted that it tells “a story of humanity and a very important one.”^[35]

In 2005, a film directed by Junaid Ahmed called “More Than Just a Game” told the inspirational story of how prisoners at Robben Island created an organized soccer league.^[36] The Robben Island soccer league, known as the Makana Football Association, was founded in 1966 and lasted until 1973. It was named after a nineteenth-century Xhosa warrior and prophet. It was no ordinary league. Since the seventeenth century, Robben Island was used to house political prisoners, but the organized league did not begin until the 1960s. The players used soccer as an order of passion and discipline. Yet soccer also generated a leadership opportunity for the prisoners as they struggled with their incarceration and hoped for a better world. It took vision and clarity, traits we associate with positive leadership, to create the Robben Island soccer league. It allowed the players to dream, a key ingredient of both leadership and the human condition. The league also became a vehicle for dialogue, democracy, the anti-apartheid struggle, and grooming the leadership skills of future leaders and presidents of South Africa.

A few interesting facts about the Robben Island soccer league are instructive because they highlight the leadership of all the prisoners collectively and their love for soccer:

What experts say about leadership could be applied to the Makana Football Association. Recall when Northouse argued that leadership is “a process whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal.” In the case under consideration, it was not merely one individual, but numerous prisoners, who used soccer as a tool to influence each other positively and advance their individual and collective leadership skills. In addition, my definition of ethical leadership posited that it connotes “knowing your core values and having the courage to live them in all parts of your life in service of the common good.” The players, coaches, and administrators associated with the Makana Football Association understood that apartheid was an evil that would one day be defeated, and used soccer to give their lives some joy while enhancing their leadership skills. In 1989, the Makana Football Association was recognized for its great accomplishments and was given honorary FIFA membership.^[38]

In soccer, we can also learn leadership lessons from coaches and managers. Coaches and managers must know how to deal with players and management alike, the leadership style required for their teams, the style of play required for their teams, how to manage the different personalities in the dressing room, the changes needed in the club, who should be the leader or leaders on the pitch, and whether those leaders (captains or co-captains) are able to adapt themselves to the different circumstances that the team faces.^[39] The coaches with the most leadership skills translate their passion and talent into success (titles).

Alex Ferguson, a former soccer player who scored 170 goals as a forward in Scottish professional soccer from 1957 to 1974, is one of the best managers in the history of the game. He retired on the summit of soccer professional coaches in 2013. From 1986 to 2013, Ferguson led Manchester United to numerous soccer trophies, as the team became one of the most successful soccer clubs in the world. Under the guidance of the fiery Scotsman, Manchester United won nearly forty trophies, including thirteen Premier League titles, ten FA Charity/Community Shield trophies, five FA Cups, four League Cups, two Champions League titles (1998–1999 and 2007–2008), the Intercontinental Cup in 1999, and the Club World Cup in 2008.

Ferguson became a Manchester United icon and a manager brand. His leadership style clearly got results, but former players under his helm such as David Beckham and even his compatriot, the talented and diminutive Gordon Strachan, criticized Ferguson for his authoritarian approach to managing. Numerous players had public dust-ups with Ferguson, including a shoe thrown at Beckham after an argument in 2003. While we cannot argue with Ferguson’s titles (thirty-eight trophies in twenty-six years), we might wonder how ethical his leadership skills are if so many high-profile players leave the club? Supporters of Ferguson argue that Ferguson did everything in terms of a grand Manchester United vision. If this larger Manchester United vision means putting high-priced stars in line for lack of discipline and performance, this is what a great leader must do, argue his most ardent supporters. Gordon Strachan, a soccer manager with Celtic from 2005 to 2009 and a star player for Scotland at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups, had harsh words for Ferguson in his autobiography: “I decided this man could not be trusted an inch—I would not want to expose my back to him in a hurry.”^[40]

José Mourinho (b. 1963) is a Portuguese soccer manager and currently the head coach of Chelsea FC. Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola insisted Mourinho is perhaps the best coach in the world, while Chelsea idol Frank Lampard said he is the best coach he has ever played for.^[41] Recall that Guardiola pointed out that a leader makes others better. Valdano argued that leaders instill passion and hope (confidence and belief), as well as engender team unity. Frank Lampard, the Chelsea midfield legend, is unequivocal about Mourinho’s leadership skills:

Mourinho has coached Benfica, União de Leiria, and Porto in his native Portugal, as well as Chelsea (twice), Inter Milan, and Real Madrid. Along with coaching legends Tomislav Ivić, Ernst Happel, and Giovanni Trapattoni, he is only the fourth coach to win league titles in at least four different countries: Portugal, England, Italy, and Spain. He also won the Champions League titles with Porto and Inter Milan in 2003–2004 and 2009–2010, respectively. In 2010, he won the first FIFA Ballon d’Or Best Coach award. Between 2002 and 2011, Mourinho went 150 home league matches unbeaten with four different clubs: thirty-eight (W36–D2) with Porto, sixty (W46–D14) with Chelsea, thirty-eight (W29–D9) with Inter Milan, and fourteen (W14–D0) with Real Madrid. Wherever Mourinho goes, it seems success follows him.

Yet Mourinho had rather humble soccer beginnings and chance led him to exert his incredible leadership talents. A central midfielder as a player, Mourinho played for rather modest sides in Portugal from 1980 to 1985, including Rio Ave, Belenenses, and Sesimbra. He scored very few goals and his career, by all accounts, was rather unspectacular. He then worked as a physical education teacher and a youth team scout until a fortuitous encounter with legendary English coach Sir Bobby Robson. Mourinho became an interpreter for Sir Bobby Robson at Sporting Lisbon and Porto in Portugal, as well as Barcelona. Mourinho speaks six languages. After Robson left Barcelona, Mourinho worked with his successor, the Dutchman Louis van Gaal. Thus, Mourinho learned invaluable leadership lessons from two famous and effective soccer coaches.

When Mourinho’s start in professional coaching came with Benfica in 2000, he never looked back and made himself a legend in the game. His controversial comments sometimes landed him in hot water with soccer officials, but nobody denies that he is a leader and one of the greatest coaches in soccer history. His inability to win sufficient titles at Real Madrid in 2012 and 2013 led him back to the Chelsea coaching position. How he performs at Chelsea to rebound from the disappointments at Real Madrid will test his leadership skills.

Whereas Mourinho had the ability to set grand visions, concrete goals, and meet many of those goals as a coach in four different countries, a French coach named Raymond Domenech will forever be etched in the category of “toxic leaders.” He was certainly a more spectacular player than Mourinho, as Domenech earned eight caps for France as a defender from 1973 to 1979, won two French cups with Lyon and Bordeaux, and a league championship with Strasbourg in 1979. Domenech’s tenure as the manager of the French national team from 2004 until 2010 was controversial and unceremonious, though he did manage to lead France to the finals at the 2006 World Cup as a result of the heroic performances of Zinedine Zidane.

Domenech was criticized for creating a toxic atmosphere in the dressing room when France was disgraced in the first round of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. There was a players’ revolt against Domenech and the players refused to train before their third World Cup match. The French public, press, and parliamentarians were outraged with the players and the inability of Domenech to reign in his divided team.

During a 2–0 loss to Mexico, Nicolas Anelka, a mercurial French striker, reportedly insulted Domenech. Anelka was dismissed from the team the next day. Patrice Evra and team trainer Robert Duverne also had a confrontation, which supposedly caused Domenech to physically restrain Duverne. The French players responded by returning to the team bus and refusing to practice. The team returned to practice after protests by the French Soccer Federation. When France ended its miserable World Cup campaign with a 2–1 loss to South Africa, Domenech sadly refused to shake the hand of South Africa’s coach Carlos Alberto Parreira. He had lost all legitimacy as both a leader and an ethical human being.

Liane Davey, a principal for Knightsbridge Leadership Solutions in Toronto, made an astute comment about Domenech’s lack of leadership and responsibility after the players’ revolt:

Following the model of leadership from the leadership course I taught, leaders come from all parts of the soccer hierarchy: the bottom, middle, or top. Valdano argues that the entire team, its players, and the management can exercise their leadership skills by striving to win with style (that is, fairly and through both technical and moral superiority).^[44] Seen from this perspective, the players themselves are all leaders and individually responsible for making the collective better. While it is true that, as Zinedine Zidane pointed out, Domenech “lost control” of the French national team at the 2010 World Cup,^[45] players like Anelka and especially team captain Evra could have behaved differently and demonstrated greater leadership. The strike idea by the players was excessive in the middle of a World Cup. The players needed to realize that young children in France and around the world look up to them as role models. Leadership needs to be demonstrated when you win, draw, or lose. It should come from both players and coaches. It should be conscious that soccer is part of a larger society and that it has ethical responsibilities to society at large.

In chapter 6, we highlighted the ethical shortcomings associated with soccer and FIFA administrators. Following our leadership insights, we argue that FIFA needs to clean its own house, create more accountability in its practices, and get rid of corrupt administrators. While changes can come at all levels within the organization, including the officials that select World Cup bids, a strong message needs to be sent from the top beginning with FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Blatter is perceived as autocratic, unaccountable, and unwilling to tackle the corruption within the organization. Recall that in chapter 2 the former Chilean international Elias Figueroa was going to be the ChangeFIFA candidate, but suddenly withdrew his name and thus did not challenge Blatter’s reign. Blatter has gone essentially unchallenged in an organization that has a GDP that is higher than the majority of the countries across the globe. In a world where totalitarian evils were defeated in the twentieth century and where in the twenty-first century the “Arab Spring” has deposed authoritarian dictators in a region long resistant to democracy, is it right that FIFA and Blatter run worldwide soccer like a “benign dictatorship”?

Recall that I pointed out that leadership entails the ability to share information. Yet Blatter has refused to open up the voting process to challenge his presidency, thus acting like a modern soccer monarch. He has been slow to seriously investigate widespread corruption in the organization. Blatter is even losing his legitimacy in the eyes of corporations concerned with bribery and corruption allegations, as well as the world’s fans. In addition, Blatter does not have very good communication skills when it comes to dealing with issues related to his accountability and that of the organization. Finally, Blatter has not demonstrated ethical leadership around accountability issues related to World Cup bids, corporate sponsors, the corruption of key officials, and his own authoritarian form of governance. He dismissed the anti-government protests taking place during the Confederations Cup in Brazil in 2013, saying FIFA was “stronger” and showed little empathy for the largely non-violent protestors demanding a re-jigging of government financial priorities, as well as less government corruption and lower transportation prices.^[46] Blatter has become a big part of FIFA’s troubles. If he begins to clean up the game’s administrative structures within FIFA, he will be a real leader and a hero to billions of soccer fans. If he does nothing, or makes cosmetic changes within FIFA, he might stay in power and harm the good of the game as a whole. A veritable FIFA revolution will be needed to clean up professional soccer. FIFA needs to clean up its act, come up with fresh ideas, and foster popular participation and real change.

Some fans around the world have demonstrated better ethical leadership than Blatter. Remember that in chapter 6 I highlighted the Brazilian struggle for democracy, which was led by Sócrates and his club Corinthians. The club and its fans fought for human rights, individual rights, democracy, fan participation in the club, and the joys of soccer against its excessive commercialism. Around the world fans have organized collectively in order to gain greater control of their clubs and to prohibit majority ownership in the club’s constitutional documents. Increasingly one finds fan-owned clubs around the world. We might view these fan-owned clubs as examples of collective leadership, which is inclusive and often more ethical than majority ownership. This is not, of course, to fully romanticize fan-owned clubs.

Fan-owned clubs can be found around the world. These clubs include: Zacatepec (Mexico), Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (Costa Rica), Jeanne D’Arc FC (from Mali’s capital city Bamako), Might Jets FC (Jos, Nigeria), Yokohama FC (Japan), Seoul United (South Korea), Rapid Vienna (Austria), NK Varteks (Varaždin, Croatia), Prague-based Bohemians 1905 (Czech Republic), PFC Botеv Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Aris FC (Thessaloniki, Greece), Rosenborg BK (Norway), Linfield FC (Northern Ireland), Shamrock Rovers FC (Republic of Ireland), Swansea City FC (Wales), the Seattle Sounders FC (United States), and Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona (Spain). England has numerous fan-owned, or partially fan-owned clubs from Wycombe Wanderers FC and Chester FC to Exeter City FC and AFC Rushden and Diamonds. Moreover, all soccer clubs in Sweden and Turkey are fully owned by the fans, thus giving the fans a high degree of democratic decision making.

While some of the aforementioned clubs have achieved great successes, others are languishing in obscurity and the lower divisions of professional soccer. Clint Dempsey’s Seattle Sounders FC is a real MLS success story. Seattle has sold out every league match, set MLS records for average attendance, led the league in season ticket sales, and qualified for the MLS Cup playoffs in each of its first three seasons.^[47] Those figures are set to remain stable or even increase after the Seattle Sounders signed the USA international and former Premier League star Clint Dempsey in 2013. Many fans prefer the fan-owned clubs because they are involved with the club and are ultimately responsible for its ups and downs. They see the game as less dominated by the principle of profits for a few individuals. With less control over the club, there is a tendency to blame a scapegoat like the investors, a management group, or a coach. With fan-owned clubs, leadership is an affair for all involved with the club from players and fans to administrators and the cleaning staff.

Soccer journalists can also display leadership by becoming icons in their profession. They help to transmit a love for “the beautiful game.” One of my favorite journalists is Andrés Cantor (b. 1962), a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina. He is a Spanish-language sportscaster in the United States. He provides Spanish-language commentary of soccer matches and he has also provided soccer commentaries in the English-speaking world. Cantor is famous for imitating the “GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLLLLLLL!” call of Latin American announcers. Working with Univision, Telemundo, and NBC Sports, he has a wonderful voice, passion, and love for the game. He adds real spice to soccer games with his dramatic announcing style. He is the exact opposite of the often dry and ironic English announcers. He is a real leader in his field. In 1994, Cantor was recognized for his leadership when he was honored as Sports Personality of the Year by the American Sportscaster Association.

In conclusion, this chapter has sought to draw leadership lessons from soccer. “It is easy to recruit one thousand soldiers, but hard to find a good general,” argues an ancient Chinese proverb. This saying could apply to soccer players, captains, coaches, journalists, referees, and administrators. Xavi, Clint Dempsey, and Steven Gerrard are my leaders of choice because of their leadership skills on and sometimes off the field. Dempsey is a real leader because he came from an underrated soccer region (CONCACAF) and country (United States) and rose to international prominence. Moreover, Dempsey overcame great personal adversity to become a recognized USA national team captain. His new nickname is “Captain America.” Gerrard’s leadership skills are related to his talent, tenacity on the field, personality that helped to unify club and country, and ability to overcome adversity such as the death of his young cousin. Xavi is the midfield general-leader of Spain’s soccer renaissance at the end of the first decade of the twenty-first century, while he also used his mediation skills at club level in conjunction with Casillas to maintain the “magic” of the Spanish national team.

Good leaders come from anywhere. They can be players, managers, coaches, fans, or administrators. The players can be amateurs or professionals and can come from all cultural backgrounds and sexes, as demonstrated by the heroic Robben Island prisoners and retired USA international Julie Foudy. Dempsey, Gerrard, and Xavi are brilliant contemporary soccer leaders. If he could have played with the Liverpool greats of the early 1980s such as Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush, John Barnes, Jan Mølby, Alan Hansen, Craig Johnston, and Avi Cohen, Gerrard might have won far more trophies. A leader can help a team with his supreme efforts, but a talented team wins multiple trophies because each one of its players includes numerous responsible leaders striving toward a common cause.

When Canada won the bronze medal in women’s soccer at the 2012 Olympic Games and nearly beat the United States in the semi-finals in a thrilling match, the Canadian press lauded the unexpected result and generally acknowledged the leadership commitment and “ownership” of all the players on the team.^[48] Also, great leaders know how to overcome adversity through their talent, passion, and success, as highlighted by Dempsey and Gerrard. Moreover, leaders need to be ethical and have an attitude filled with hope and vision because they have a moral responsibility to their team, the fans, the world around them, and future generations of soccer players. Recall that the Center for Ethical Leadership pointed out that ethical leadership is “knowing your core values and having the courage to live them in all parts of your life in service of the common good.” As El Libro azul (The Blue Book), given to all Real Madrid’s players, states, players must behave ethically on and off the field because of the millions of fans worldwide watching them.^[49] The Blue Book adds: “One must be respectful with one’s teammates, referees, and opponents. Victory is also a consequence of moral superiority.”^[50]

Jorge Valdano, Los 11 Poderes Del Líder (México, D.F.: Connecta, 2013).

Veronica Bishop, “What is Leadership?” pp. 8–31, McGraw-Hill UK, http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/openup/chapters/9780335225330.pdf (12 November 2012).

Valdano, Los 11 Poderes Del Líder, 23–181.

Peter Northouse in Steve Rowe, “What is Leadership?” pp. 1–28, Sagepub, 2007, http://www.corwin.com/upm-data/15104_Rowe_Chapter_01.pdf (3 October 2012).

Center for Ethical Leadership, “Ethical Leadership Definition,” Center for Ethical Leadership, http://ethicalleadership.org/about-us/philosophies-definitions/ethical-leadership (3 October 2012).

Valdano, Los 11 Poderes Del Líder, 29–30.

Kate Hairopoulos, “Quite a trip for U.S. midfielder,” The Dallas Morning News, 8 June 2006.

Alex Labidou, “Clint Dempsey: Not much has changed since becoming U.S. captain,” Goal.com, 6 June 2013, http://sports.yahoo.com/news/clint-dempsey-not-much-changed-214800971--sow.html (7 November 2013).

Ibid.

10.

Ibid.

11.

Daily Mail, “Zidane: Forget Ronaldo and Messi, the best player in the world is Liverpool star Gerrard,” Mail Online, 14 March 2009, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1161649/Zidane-Forget-Ronaldo-Messi-best-player-world-Liverpool-star-Gerrard.html (7 November 2013).

12.

Valdano, Los 11 Poderes Del Líder, 136–137.

13.

Ibid., 163.

14.

Sid Lowe, “I’m a romantic, says Xavi, heartbeat of Barcelona and Spain,” The Guardian, 10 February 2011.

15.

Valdano, Los 11 Poderes Del Líder, 169–170.

16.

Emily Benammar, “Liverpool’s Steven Gerrard hailed as world’s best player by Zinedine Zidane,” The Telegraph, 13 March 2009, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/liverpool/4984191/Liverpools-Steven-Gerrard-hailed-as-worlds-best-player-by-Zinedine-Zidane.html (2 August 2013).

17.

Steve Busfield, “Steven Gerrard—the one man tracking back in our World XI?” The Guardian, 24 October 2010, http://www.theguardian.com/football/series/the-greatest-xi (2 August 2013).

18.

My translation. Valdano, Los 11 Poderes Del Líder, 11.

19.

Henry Winter (with Steven Gerrard), My Autobiography (London: Bantam, 2007).

20.

Phil Scraton, Hillsborough: The Truth (Edinburgh: Mainstream Publishing Company, 2009), 11.

21.

Daily Mail Online, “Steven Gerrard’s bedside visit to 10-year-old boy he knocked down in car,” Mail Online, 3 October 2007, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-485083/Steven-Gerrards-bedside-visit-10-year-old-boy-knocked-car.html (2 August 2013).

22.

Sounders FC, “Sounders FC Signs Clint Dempsey,” Sounders FC, 3 August 2013, http://www.soundersfc.com/News/Articles/2013/08-August/Sounders-FC-Signs-USA-International-Clint-Dempsey.aspx (14 September 2013). In 2014, the Sounders loaned Dempsey to Fulham.

23.

Joshua Mayers, “Clint Dempsey’s journey from humble beginnings has shaped his game and character,” Sounders FC Blog, 24 August 2013, http://seattletimes.com/html/sounders/2021683347_sounders25xml.html (8 November 2013).

24.

Ibid.

25.

Clint Dempsey, “Clint Dempsey ‘Don’t Tread,’” YouTube, 2009, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1eu7opg6UE (14 September 2014).

26.

Joshua Mayers, “More quotes and pictures from a story on Clint Dempsey’s roots,” Sounders FC Blog, 27 August 2013, http://blogs.seattletimes.com/soundersfc/2013/08/27/more-quotes-and-pictures-from-a-story-on-clint-dempseys-roots/ (8 November 2013).

27.

Ibid.

28.

John D. Halloran, “Why Clint Dempsey Is Ready to Be the Leader for USMNT,” Bleacher Report, 20 June 2013, http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1679157-why-clint-dempsey-is-ready-to-be-the-leader-for-usmnt (8 November 2013).

29.

Ibid.

30.

Jeremiah Oshan, “Seattle Sounders players are excited to welcome Clint Dempsey to the team,” MLSsoccer.com, 4 August 2013, http://m.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2013/08/04/seattle-sounders-players-are-excited-welcome-clint-dempsey-team (8 November 2013).

31.

Sam Borden, “Dempsey Named U.S. Captain,” The New York Times Soccer Blog, 20 March 2013, http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/20/dempsey-named-u-s-captain/?_r=0 (8 November 2013).

32.

This Is Announcements, “Donald Simpson Bell VC: Obituary,” This Is Announcements, 29 September 2008. http://www.thisisannouncements.co.uk/5860367 (2 August 2013).

33.

Gay Life, “The Hidden History of Justin Fashanu,” About, http://gaylife.about.com/od/gaycelebrityprofiles/ig/Gay-Celebrity-Profiles/Justin-Fashanu.-6_L.htm (2 August 2013)

34.

July Foudy Sports Leadership Academy, July Foudy Sport Leadership Academy, http://www.juliefoudyleadership.com/ (4 October 2012).

35.

Mike Lewis, “FIFA holds meeting on notorious Robben Island,” MLSSOCCER, 23 January 2010, http://m.mlssoccer.com/news/article/fifa-holds-meeting-notorious-robben-island (2 August 2013).

36.

Junaid Ahmed, “More than just a Game,” Filmex (Pty) Ltd., 2005, http://www.morethanjustagame.co.za/downloads/MTJAG_presskit.pdf (4 October 2012).

37.

Ibid., 8–9.

38.

Lewis, “FIFA holds meeting on notorious Robben Island.”

39.

Ferran Soriano, La pelota no entra por azar (México, D.F.: Santillana, 2012), 177; 196–197.

40.

Simon Austin, “Fergie v. Strachan,” BBC Sport, 12 September 2006, http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/5335578.stm (4 October 2006).

41.

Metro, “Frank Lampard: Jose Mourinho is the best, he made me the player I am today,” Metro, 20 May 2013, http://metro.co.uk/2013/05/20/frank-lampard-jose-mourinho-is-the-best-he-made-the-player-i-am-today-3801802/ (8 November 2013).

42.

Ibid.

43.

Wallace Immen, “Leadership lessons from the pitch,” The Globe and Mail, 22 June 2010, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/career-advice/leadership-lessons-from-the-soccer-pitch/article4322608/ (5 October 2012).

44.

Valdano, Los 11 Poderes Del Líder, 87–88.

45.

Paul Hayward, “World Cup 2010: France quit on the job to signal end of Domenech era,” The Guardian, 18 June 2010, http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2010/jun/18/raymond-domenech-france-world-cup-2010 (2 August 2013).

46.

Israel Ojoko, “FIFA take Confed Cup positives despite Brazil protest,” Futaa, 2013, http://www.futaa.com/football/article/fifa-take-confed-cup-positives-despite-brazil-protest (16 July 2013).

47.

Zac Wassink, “MLS Sets Attendance Records in 2012: Is it All Really Great News for the League?” Yahoo! Sports, 21 December 2012, http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mls-sets-attendance-records-2012-really-great-news-154000159--mls.html (2 August 2013).

48.

James Mirtle, “It’s all about the leadership for women’s soccer team in London,” The Globe and Mail, 11 July 2012, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/its-all-about-the-leadership-for-womens-soccer-team-in-london/article4408958/ (5 October 2012).

49.

Valdano, Los 11 Poderes Del Líder, 88.

50.

My translation. Valdano, Los 11 Poderes Del Líder, 88.