{"id":25581,"date":"2024-05-13T10:47:49","date_gmt":"2024-05-13T10:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/?post_type=article&p=25581"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:10:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:10:59","slug":"four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Reasons Why Carlo Ancelotti Should Be Considered a Counter-Cultural Establishment Figure"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n 13 May 2024 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

Four Reasons Why Carlo Ancelotti Should Be Considered a Counter-Cultural Establishment Figure<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n
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The Real Madrid Head Coach is the antidote to the systems-based, top-down coaching approach that is in vogue in some quarters.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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By John Portch<\/h6>\n
Real Madrid\u2019s comeback victory over Bayern Munich last week means they will head to Wembley next month in pursuit of a record-extending 15th<\/sup> Champions League title.<\/h6>\n

The team\u2019s Head Coach, Carlo Ancelotti, who recently signed a contract extension until 2026, has his own record to pursue: a victory over Borussia Dortmund in north-west London would see him claim his fifth Champions League title as a coach.<\/p>\n

Last week Ancelotti also eclipsed Sir Alex Ferguson\u2019s record when he coached a Champions League match for a record 203rd<\/sup> time. It comes after a weekend when he won a second La Liga title with Real.<\/p>\n

The club paraded that trophy on an open-top bus through the streets of Madrid at the weekend, with Ancelotti living up to his \u2018Don Carlo\u2019 nickname by putting on his sunglasses and clenching a cigar between his teeth \u2013 a look he first rolled out during similar celebrations after winning the Champions League and La Liga double in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a dream\u2026 to dance with Eduardo Camavinga,\u201d he told the crowd on Sunday (12 May).<\/p>\n

Ancelotti is the ultimate establishment figure, yet his relaxed, consensus-based approach to coaching is at odds with many of his contemporaries and marks him out as counter-cultural at the highest level.<\/p>\n

What makes Ancelotti so successful? It\u2019s certainly rooted in his zest for life; his love of people, good wine and fine food serve to break down barriers and forge connections. It speaks to his longevity too.<\/p>\n

Here, the Leaders Performance Institute explores four of his finest traits.<\/p>\n

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  1. A preference for consensus decision-making<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    It is hard to imagine too many of the world\u2019s best football coaches bringing players in at the planning stage. While the final decision lies with Ancelotti, he will often ask the players for their opinion on the match strategy. He knows they will have a better understanding\u00a0 and feel a sense of accountability and buy-in if they\u2019ve been involved in the decision-making process.<\/p>\n

    \u201cOur biggest strength is that he finds a way to let a lot of the boys play with freedom, that we\u2019re so kind of off the cuff.\u201d Real\u2019s Jude Bellingham told TNT last month. \u201cAs a man as well, he fills you with calmness and confidence.\u201d Real have not always been a club noted for their calmness, nor has Madrid as a sporting market, but progress has been serene during his latest tenure.<\/p>\n

    \u201cThere are two types of managers: those that do nothing and those that do a lot of damage,\u201d he said last week. \u201cThe game belongs to the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. A cultural chameleon<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      This is a term we’ve used before<\/a> to describe Ancelotti. It is impossible to pin a style on the only coach to have won national championships in five countries with five different clubs: Milan, Chelsea, Paris St-Germain, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid (across two spells). He has also worked with varying degrees of success at Reggiana, Parma, Juventus, Napoli and Everton.<\/p>\n

      Some of those spells are remembered more fondly in some quarters than others, but he has always stressed the importance of getting to know the characteristics of players, the culture, and traditions of a club.<\/p>\n

      Even if something has made him very successful at one club, he won\u2019t just come in and impose that style on another. Ancelotti understands that there are many cultural differences from club to club and within different countries, and he has to adapt his style to get the best out of the players and team.<\/p>\n

      His time at Chelsea between 2009 and 2011 is a fine example. He discarded the 4-2-3-1 formation that served him so well at Milan for a 4-3-3 that propelled the Blues to the Premier League and FA Cup double in 2010.<\/p>\n

      \u201cWhat I really loved about Carlo is his man-management, the way he adapted as well \u2013 because he had a way of coaching that probably didn\u2019t suit English football,\u201d John Terry, Ancelotti\u2019s captain at Chelsea, told The Coaches\u2019 Voice<\/em> in 2020. \u201cBut he adapted very quickly when speaking to me, Frank [Lampard], Didier [Drogba].\u201d<\/p>\n

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      1. Humility<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        There are few coaches for whom it is so hard to find a bad word about them, but Ancelotti is popular with some of the sport\u2019s biggest names.<\/p>\n

        \u201cHe had fun with us,\u201d Cristiano Ronaldo told ESPN in 2015. The duo had won the Champions League together at Real a year earlier. \u201cMr Ancelotti was an unbelievable surprise. In the beginning, I thought he was more a tough person, more kind of arrogant, and it was the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

        He protects his team from the stressors of elite football by masking the pressure he\u2019s under. Ancelotti takes the situation \u2013 but not himself \u2013 seriously, and can often be found telling jokes in the changing room before a big game to help diffuse the tension.<\/p>\n

        Bellingham described a moment prior to the first leg of Real\u2019s Champions League quarter-final with Manchester City. \u201cBefore the game, I caught him yawning and asked him \u2018Boss, are you tired?\u2019\u201d Bellingham told TNT post-match. \u201cHe said \u2018you need to go out and excite me\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s the calmness and confidence he brings.\u201d<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. A refreshing sense of perspective<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Few coaches in European football are as equanimous as Ancelotti. He has enjoyed unprecedented success but has also been unceremoniously sacked on more than one occasion. Memorably, he was not Real\u2019s first choice when he returned to Madrid in 2021.<\/p>\n

          \u2018[He] understands, probably better than anybody working in the most cut-throat businesses, the transient nature of employment in any talent-dependent industry,\u2019 wrote Chris Brady, in Quiet Leadership<\/em>, the 2016 book he co-authored with Ancelotti.<\/p>\n

          He is well aware of the concept of \u2018energisers\u2019 and \u2018sappers\u2019 too. \u2018It is the energisers who are the reference points for everybody, including me,\u2019 Ancelotti wrote in Quiet Leadership<\/em>.<\/p>\n

          Ultimately, beyond the white noise, Ancelotti understands that football is not life and death, a point he made at the 2015 Leaders Sport Performance Summit in New York.<\/p>\n

          \u201cFootball is the most important of the less important things in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n <\/div>\n \n \n \n <\/div>\n

          \n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":25582,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categories":[20],"pathway":[295],"topic":[309,296,334],"sport":[303],"class_list":["post-25581","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership-culture-performance","pathway-leadership-development","topic-collaboration","topic-culture","topic-leadership-of-self","sport-football"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFour Reasons Why Carlo Ancelotti Should Be Considered a Counter-Cultural Establishment Figure - Performance Institute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Four Reasons Why Carlo Ancelotti Should Be Considered a Counter-Cultural Establishment Figure - Performance Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Performance Institute\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T05:10:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-2152093792-1-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1730\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/\",\"name\":\"Four Reasons Why Carlo Ancelotti Should Be Considered a Counter-Cultural Establishment Figure - Performance Institute\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-2152093792-1-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-13T10:47:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-15T05:10:59+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/four-reasons-why-carlo-ancelotti-should-be-considered-a-counter-cultural-establishment-figure\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-2152093792-1-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/app\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/05\/GettyImages-2152093792-1-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1730,\"caption\":\"MADRID, SPAIN - MAY 08: Carlo Ancelotti, Head Coach of Real Madrid, celebrates after the team's victory during the UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg match between Real Madrid and FC Bayern M\u00fcnchen at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu on May 08, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. 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