Diego Simeone robbed of award

Diego Simeone. Image: Daily Mail. Available here.

DIEGO Simeone is the Coach of the Year, regardless of what FIFA say.

Joachim Loew may have ran away with this year’s accolade, but he stole it from underneath the Argentinian’s nose.

Coaches and captains of international teams select the award winner, as well as journalists from all over the world, so why wasn't Simeone the winner?

Perhaps there is more involved to the voting procedure? Atletico Madrid midfielder Arda Turan made it clear on Twitter that he had voted for his club coach for the award, rather than Chelsea gaffer Jose Mourinho as FIFA had announced.

Atletico Madrid have no right to compete with Real Madrid and Barcelona, their budgets are a million miles apart.

So how did Los Colchoneros manage to go the distance in the 2013-14 season and clinch the La Liga crown ahead of those two giants?

The answer lies with the 44-year-old tactician Simeone.

Simeone isn’t stupid; the man knows his side shouldn’t be fighting for the title. ‘400 million’ tells the difference between his squad and that of the Los Blancos.

Atletico’s squad is valued at below 90 million, but somehow managed to pip their inner city rivals over at the Bernabeu with a squad estimated at over 500 million to the hot seat of Spanish football.

World Coach of the Year winner, Joachim Loew.
Image: Sky Sports. Available here,

Budget is the fundamental difference between the two Madrid rivals. One spends around 190 million in salaries to their players each year, three times more than their counter-part. Any guesses who?

Simeone’s side fulfilled 65 fixtures in 2014, winning 40 of them, leaving the Argentinian mastermind with a win percentage of 61.54%.

Compare that statistic to Sir Alex Ferguson who left Manchester United in May 2013 with a win percentage of 59.67%

Joachim Loew may have technically had a higher win percentage for 2014, but his side completed only 17 fixtures. His side was also full of players of high caliber, such as Phillip Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller, Manuel Neuer and Toni Kroos. The list goes on, you get the idea.

Atletico have no players of exceptional quality, focusing on being tactically perfect and very focused instead of buying their way to a title.

Three of Real’s players made the FIFPRO World XI, four if you include Angel Di Maria who started the year off at the club. A star-studded selection of players ply their trade for Carlo Ancelotti’s side, including the FIFA Ballon d’Or winner for past two seasons, Cristiano Ronaldo.

Atletico’s excellence for the whole year wasn’t justified in the Team of the Year at all, excluding the prowess of the powerful centre-back Diego Godin. Instead, Brazilian David Luiz was selected, who was at the heart of defence during Brazil’s devastating 7-1 loss to Germany in the 2014 World Cup Semi-Final.

If Diego Simeone can’t win Coach of the Year after his exploits for Atletico Madrid in 2014, he will never win it.

By Stephen Matthews