It’s harder to stay on the top than get there, they say. Does that concern football coaches who managed to lift the World Cup, the biggest trophy in football? Three days before the World Cup final between France and Croatia let’s find out which coaches saw their careers fade after they led their national teams to glory at World Championship.

Sepp Herberger

Some people try to write him off for being a member of the Nazi party before the War, others are inspired by his stature as an outstanding football coach who managed to lead Germany to World Cup glory just years after the end of World War II. Herberger was the national team’s head coach from 1936 to 1942 and quite incredibly got his position back in 1950. The phenomenon widely known as ‘The Miracle of Bern’, Herberger managed to build a competitive squad several years after Germany had capitulated in the war and lost a large part of male population. Yet somehow West Germany managed to beat mighty Hungary by 3-2 in the final, coming back from two goals down. Herberger was not capable to repeat that success as Brazil went on to dominate in 1958 and 1962, and retired in 1964.

Alf Ramsey

Alf Ramsey is undoubtedly one of the most influential and respectful persons in English football as he is the only manager who was able to guide the Three Lions to World Cup glory. Ramsey took charge of the national team in 1963 and managed to build a powerful squad in three years before the home tournament in 1966. Led by Bobby Moore, Bobby Charlton and Jeoff Hurst, England managed to beat Eusebio’s Portugal in the semifinal and West Germany in the final, clinching their first and only title in history. Alf Ramsey was not able to defend the title four years later and failed to qualify for the 1974 World Cup. As a result, he had to leave his position and retired after a brief spell with Birmingham City.

Helmut Schoen

Helmut Schoen is a legend of the Germany national team, staying with them for 22 years. He was assistant coach from 1956 to 1964 and then got promoted to head coach. Schoen took his team to four World Cups in 1966, 1970, 1974 and 1978 and got back with medals from the first three of those tournaments. However, it was the home 1974 tournament that made him the German hero as the Mannschaft beat the Netherlands in the final. Schoen failed to repeat that success four years later in Argentina and finished his football career after 14 years at the helm of Germany.

Enzo Bearzot

Enzo Bearzot has recently been in the shadow of modern-era Italy coaches, such as Arrigo Sacchi, Giovanni Trapattoni or Marcello Lippi. However, he is the all-time longest-serving manager of Italy national team, having been at the helm of Squadra Azzurra in 104 matches from 1975 to 1986. But most importantly, Bearzot guided the team to the 1982 World Cup glory, beating West Germany by 3-1 in the final. The manager stayed at the helm of the team for four more years but resigned following a failed attempt to defend the title in 1986. Bearzot never got back to management.

Aime Jacquet

Having proved himself as a top coach by leading Bordeaux to three French titles, Aime Jacquet soon received the invitation to take charge of the France national team. He guided the team to the semifinals of the 1996 European Championship before being given the honor of managing the national team at home World Cup in 1998. The team did not have an easy route to the final but outperformed Brazil 3-0 in the last game of the tournament. Going all the way from a dark horse to the national hero, Aime Jacquet chose to quit his position following the victory and became a technical director of the French Football Federation. He never got back to coaching work and finally retired in 2006.

Some managers like Mario Zagallo or Luiz Felipe Scolari never get tired of switching between clubs and national teams in search of new challenges and trophies. However, there are many managers who move to the shadow or fail to impress again after reaching the summit of football in the World Cup title. Let’s see what happens next to Didier Deschamps or Zlatko Dalic, whoever wins the title!