Image: Connect 1/Playback
Even after the beautiful goal scored yesterday (29), star Neymar did not hide his dissatisfaction with the 1-1 draw conceded by Paris-Saint Germain in added time against Stade de Reims, in a match for the French Championship.
One person is responsible for this bravery of the Brazilian: a 30-year-old coach, Belgian Will Still, from Reims, who embraced this career because he was a fan of the classic game “Football Manager”, which was so successful — and still is — among football fans. soccer.
Reims have had a truly astonishing campaign in Ligue 1 under Will Still, who was born in Belgium to English parents. Like most boys, who dream of being a player and shining on the four lines, Still tried his career as a professional, but he was unsuccessful and only played in teams from lower divisions in Belgium.
Before knowing more about Will Still, see how the tie between PSG and Reims was:
Thankfully, thanks to his love for “Football Manager”, a football team management game franchise — famous for having one of the best simulation systems in the world —, Still decided to try his hand at coaching. So far, it seems to have been a great decision.
He has already publicly stated that he was so addicted to FM that he was banned from playing by his parents, who were worried about the sleepless nights he and his brother spent.
Inspired by the FM, the young Still decided to stop his little-known career on the pitch to take the English FA coaching course. His first experience as manager was in the youth divisions of Preston North End, a traditional English club founded in 1862 and which today competes in the Championship, the 2nd Division of England.
Back in Belgium, he served as a video analyst at Saint-Trond before taking over as head coach on an interim basis aged just 24, becoming the youngest top-flight coach in the country.
The first experience in France was in 2021, when he was invited to be an assistant to the then coach of Reims, the Spaniard Óscar Garcia. Still left the French club for a while to work at Standard Liége, one of Belgium’s most traditional teams, but returned in October last year following Garcia’s departure.
Currently, Will Still’s name does not leave the headlines of French sports newspapers. The coach is the sensation of Ligue 1 and mainly responsible for the undefeated sequence of ten games of the modest Reims, 11th in the league.
The heroic draw against leaders PSG serves to further enhance the young coach, who managed to annul one of the best attacking trios in the world: Messi, Mbappé and Neymar.
