Players thriving under their father/manager at the club and earn immediate international cap

 

A few players have been fortunate in his career when they emerge to stardom under his father who happens to be the manager of their club.

Football runs deep and certainly can run in the family. There have been a number of players who play for the team alongside their brothers or under their father as the team boss.  Not all manage to break into the first team under their fathers.

Recently, one of Argentina internationals thrives under his father/manager at the club has been the regular member of Albiceleste squad. He is none but Guiliano Simeone, the son of Atletico Madrid boss, Diego. He owed his recent prominence to his father. He joined Los Rojiblancos initially in the reserve team before spending his loan spells in two Segunda Division sides, Alaves and Real Zaragoza before eventually being promoted to the first team last season.

The right winger has been indispensable in Metropolitan with 67 appearances so far, registering eight goals and 14 assists. He eventually earned his first national team call up in March 2025. The brother of current Torino man, Giovanni, has even made more appearances than his older brother with 9 international caps plus netted his first goal for Argentina while Lionel Scaloni’s side crushed Brazil 4-1 at home. Guiliano is currently also included in the squad for their upcoming friendly match against Angola. 

Here are the other notable players whose father helped their development as a manager and gained a call-up eventually for the national team. 

Francesco Concecaio (Portugal)

The current Juventus man also gained advantage from his father/manager, Sergio, during his early stint at FC Porto. He made into senior team back in 2020 and stayed till summer 2022 after winning domestic double. He switched sides to Ajax and then Juventus with a loan spell in between back to Porto in 2023/24 season.

Francesco was called up for Portugal national team in March 2024 or the last season of his father’s tenure in Porto and made the cut in the EURO 2024 final squad. The right winger has capped 12 times, contributing two goals and three assists since then. Interestingly his two goals were decisive winning goal in major tournament, EURO 2024 and 2025 UEFA Nations League, in which Portugal won.

Nigel Clough (England)

The current Mansfield Town boss was the son of top English manager the Three Lions never had, Brian Clough. He definitely had the advantage of rising to prominence to the first team when his father was in charge of Nottingham Forest. Nigel was promoted to the first team squad in 1984 and then earned his England debut in 1989, when Brian was still at the helm of the team.

Unfortunately, due to the star-studded squad in The Three Lions at that time, the former attacking midfielder did not become the first choice under the tutelage of Bobby Robson. He was constantly overlooked too despite being included in EURO 1992 final squad. Overall, Nigel only made 14 appearances in England shirt and contributed one assist only during his playing career.

Jordi Cryuff (Netherlands)

The current Indonesian national team technical advisor also had the advantage of rising to the first team and receiving a Netherlands national team call up when he was still in Barcelona back in the early and mid-1990s. He started his playing career under his father/manager Johan Cryuff in 1992. He was promoted to the senior team in the 1994/95 season, although the Dutchman did not always get a nod in the starting line-up.

He then made his debut with De Oranje in April 1996, or during the last season of Johan Cryuff’s stint in Camp Nou. Jordi was also included in EURO 1996 final squad and bagged one goal when Netherlands beat Switzerland 2-0. Ironically, that was his only international goal. The former attacking midfielder was only capped eight times. He never received another call-up since October 1996.   

Jordi made 54 appearances with Barcelona, scoring 11 goals and two assists in all competitions. His fine form in EURO 1996 did help him earn a move to Manchester United, where he stayed until 2000. The versatile midfielder was not exactly the first choice in Old Trafford too. His playing career improved when he returned to La Liga by joining Alaves and helped them to advance to UEFA Cup final 2001 before losing dramatically to Liverpool in the summit.