The Italian played for top clubs, including AC Milan and Juventus, as a successful midfielder. This experience has helped in his transformation as coach.
Little wonder then that in his first five seasons as manager he won four Serie A titles with Milan and the UEFA Champions League in 1993-94. In 2001, he took Roma to its first league title in 18 years.
He was also the guiding force behind Real Madrid (1996-97) when it won the Spanish League in 1997.
He took over as England coach in December 2007 amidst criticism from Sepp Blatter who said: “I would say it is a little surprising that the motherland of football has ignored sacrosanct law or belief that the national team manager should be from the same country as the players.”
His win percentage with England was 66.67 (28 victories). He quit in 2012 after John Terry was stripped of captaincy.
He has been with Russia since July 2012 and recently inked a deal to stay on till the next World Cup. “This will be my final contract. I’ll do what Alex (Ferguson) did. He left at 72, and I’ll be gone a year earlier,” he said.
Capello prefers the traditional 4-2-2 despite coming under fire for sticking to what is believed to be an outdated formation. He also occasionally shifts to 4-3-3, thanks to the Russian squad’s wealth of midfield talent.
