Former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa confirmed for next event

Former Leeds United manager Marcelo Bielsa is to join Premier League winning coach Claudio Ranieri in an event held in Norway.

The Argentinian became a cult figure during a four-year stay at Elland Road as he guided the Whites back into the Premier League after a 16-year absence when they were crowned as Championship winners in 2020.  A ninth-placed finish in their first season back in the top tier offered hope for the future but Bielsa had departed and been succeeded by Jesse Marsch by the time a successful battle against relegation had been completed on the final day of last season.

He remains a popular figure at Elland Road, with Whites director of football suggesting Bielsa is ‘on par’ with club legend Don Revie.  Speaking at the Ole Sports Summit, he said of the former Marseille and Athletic Bilbao manager: “(He left) an eternal legacy. I can’t add more. The greatest coach of the modern era, on a par with Don Revie, of the bygone era. He changed the history in every corner of the club: youth, the youth academy, the first team. We can only be grateful for all his work.”

Bielsa is yet to return to the dugout despite several links with clubs around South America and Europe but he will join former Chelsea and Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri as a ‘Cup Final Seminar’ held in Norway later this month.

Bielsa is described as ‘the world’s foremost football coach-guru’ in an announcement confirming his attendance as the former Whites boss offers advice and guidance to Norwegian coaches at the event.