2026 is and will be a very important year for American soccer. The World Cup, which will take place primarily in the USA, as well as in Canada and Mexico, will say a lot about the real development ofsoccerand how it is perceived and experienced in a country that, historically, prefers other sports. In the meantime, however, a historic first at the club level must be noted: Pellegrino Matarazzo, coach of Real Sociedad, born in New Jersey, precisely in Wayne, from a family originally from the province of Avellino, has become the first American coach to win a trophy while managing a team from the top five leagues in Europe (Premier, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, and Ligue 1).
For those who don’t know, Real Sociedad defeated Atlético Madrid in the final held in Seville, at the Cartuja stadium, after a penalty shootout. The regular and extra time ended in a 2-2 draw, with the Basque team taking the lead twice (first with Barrenetxea after just 15 seconds, then with Oyarzabal at the end of the first half) and being equalized by the Colchoneros twice (first thanks to Lookman and then thanks to a great goal from Julián Álvarez). In the shootout, the decisive players were goalkeeper Unai Marrero and midfielder Pablo Marín, both raised in the youth academy of the San Sebastián club: the former saved two penalties from Simeone’s players, while the latter converted the decisive one. For Real Sociedad, this is the fourth victory in the Copa after those in 1909, 1987, and 2020 (but the final was played in 2021 due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
Returning to Matarazzo, the victory achieved in Seville has enormous significance for him. First of all, because it is the first trophy of his career, which began in 2019 (after years as an assistant and in the youth sectors of Nuremberg and Hoffenheim) on the bench of Stuttgart and then continued at Hoffenheim. And then because his arrival in Spain and at Real Sociedad was a real gamble, quite recent as well: the Basque club called him to replace Sergio Francisco last December after a really negative start to the season, and the response was immediate. Today, Real Sociedad is seventh in the standings and could still aim for qualification in the Champions League if La Liga secures the fifth spot in the top continental trophy (fifth-placed Betis has only four points ahead of the Txuri-Urdin). And, of course, they have won a trophy of great significance for a club like Real Sociedad.
As mentioned at the beginning, all this data and all this news have enormous value for American soccer. Although, historically speaking, Matarazzo should be considered primarily a coach with a German background (he moved to Germany to play soccer in the lower leagues in the early 2000s, then in 2010 he began working as a technical collaborator at Nuremberg, his last club), his citizenship remains American. So the Copa del Rey won by Real Sociedad gives a big boost to the movement of USA coaches, who have been trying to establish themselves in Europe for years but really struggle a lot. The recent cases of Nancy and Ramsay (who failed, respectively, at Celtic and WBA) and the not-so-fresh case of Jesse Marsch (dismissed by Leipzig after doing well at Salzburg) had fueled the feeling that it was difficult, if not impossible, to imagine an American coach succeeding in the major European leagues. And indeed, not even one of the most influential managers in the history of soccer, Bob Bradley, managed to achieve real success in his experiences at Le Havre and Swansea City. Thus, Matarazzo has shown that the utopia of a winning American coach in Europe – indeed: in the elite of Europe – can become reality. It may seem like a small thing, but it is actually a huge thing.