Jurgen Klinsmann on shortlist for FIFA World Coach of the Year

FIFA named United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann to its shortlist for World Coach of the Year late Monday night. The German-born U.S. coach led his adopted

Liviu Bird | Oct 27, 2014

Jurgen Klinsmann on shortlist for FIFA World Coach of the Year /

FIFA named United States manager Jurgen Klinsmann to its shortlist for World Coach of the Year late Monday night. The German-born U.S. coach led his adopted nation to the World Cup round of 16, where it fell to Belgium in extra time.

Klinsmann joins a prestigious list of coaches as a finalist for the award, which former Bayern Munich manager Jupp Heynckes won in 2013. Klinsmann also managed Bayern, for most of the 2008-09 season, in his previous coaching job before taking over for the U.S.

Since becoming the U.S. coach in 2011, Klinsmann became the first to lead the team to a win over Mexico in its historic Estadio Azteca, and he also won friendlies away to Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina. The U.S. also won the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2013.

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Before the 2014 World Cup, U.S. Soccer rewarded Klinsmann with a four-year contract extension that tacked on the role of technical director. The 1990 World Cup winner and 1996 European champion as a player for Germany will be on the U.S. bench through the next World Cup, Russia 2018.

On the women’s side, American forward Abby Wambach was once again named a finalist for the Women’s World Player of the Year, as she was in 2013. Seattle Reign coach Laura Harvey and Pia Sundhage, the former U.S. manager currently coaching her native Sweden, were named to the shortlist for World Coach of the Year.

Published Oct 27, 2014

LIVIU BIRD

Liviu Bird is a soccer analyst with more than 20 years of experience in the game. He learned how to play in the streets of Romania before moving to the soccer wilderness of Fairbanks, Alaska, escaping to play collegiately as a goalkeeper at Highline Community College and Seattle Pacific University, where he also earned his B.A. in journalism. Bird played semiprofessionally and had tryouts at professional clubs but hung up his gloves in 2012 to focus on writing and coaching at the youth and collegiate levels. He joined Sports Illustrated in March 2013 as a freelance contributor and has also written for NBC Sports, Soccer Wire, The New York Times, American Soccer Now and the Telegraph (UK).