Will Still – From Football Manager to the top of Ligue 1

Will Still has an amazing life story. This guy will only turn 31 in a few days, and he is currently one of the most promising football coaches. He currently leads Reims, which is in a high fifth place in Ligue 1. Will Still is without equal the youngest coach in the five strongest football leagues.

He sat on the bench of this French team in October last year, a day before his 30th birthday. After that, Reims did not know of a loss for 17 games in a row before being defeated at home by Marseille on March 19 this year. Will Still’s story is truly cinematic. He did not have an enviable career as a player since he played football at an amateur level and ended his career very early.

Will Still became a coach at the age of 17

Football Manager is one of the most popular games in the world, and Will Still became addicted to this game over time, this is where he slowly began to hone his coaching craft. With this game, he gained an even greater love for football and dreamed of one day becoming a coach of a professional team. Still played the aforementioned game for several hours every day, and at the age of 17, he decided to devote himself to football studies in England.

He especially focused on football marketing and video analysis and he really liked it because his brothers who worked at clubs like Club Brugge and Sint Truiden were also doing it. Will Still’s ascent soon began. Where he started his studies he also got his first serious job as he became an assistant coach at Preston and worked with boys aged up to 14.

Worked as a video analyst in Belgium

After that, Will Still had the opportunity to work as a video analyst in Sint Truiden, and with that team he won entry to the highest level of the competition. Since the coach of that team, Yannick Ferrera, moved to the much more famous Belgian club, Standard Liege, Still went with him as his assistant. The two did not stay there for too long and Will Still continued his career in Lierse.

In this club, he also worked as a video analyst and assistant to the first coach, and at one point, at the age of only 24, Will Still became the interim manager of that Belgian team. After a certain time, he became the head coach and managed to achieve seven consecutive victories, but after two months he returned to the position of assistant because he did not have the appropriate license to perform the work as the first coach.

As Lierse soon declared bankruptcy, Still had to look for a new environment and became an assistant coach at Beerschot. After a certain time, he became the first coach in this team, but after finishing the season in ninth place, the club decided to look for a more experienced coach. The outcome was such that this team was relegated from the league the following season. After leaving this Belgian team, Will Still got the opportunity to work in one of the top 5 strongest leagues.

With Reims entered history

He became an assistant coach in Reims and after the head coach Oscar Garcia was fired, Still became the youngest coach who ever had the opportunity to work in the top 5 strongest football leagues. As we mentioned, from the moment he took over the club until mid-March of the following year, he tied 17 games without defeat in Ligue 1 and PSG failed to overcome the team led by Still on two occasions.

A particularly interesting piece of information was that Reims had to pay a fine of 25,000 euros for every game he managed as the first coach because he did not have a professional license before enrolling in the course in Belgium. The aforementioned unbeaten streak is an absolute record in Ligue 1, and in the remaining top 5 leagues, only Tito Vilanova achieved a performance of 18 games without defeat with Barcelona.

He finished the season in 11th place which is a great position for a team like Reims and he started this season as this team is back at the top of Ligue 1. He has achieved his dreams and his career can encourage all other virtual managers to do the same one day they gain fame as Still.