Head to head: the youngest coaches at the Club World Cup | OneFootball

Filipe Luís is full of praise when talking about his upcoming opponents at the FIFA Club World Cup. According to the CR Flamengo coach, FC Bayern are “a colossus, a European giant, an absolutely dominant team in every game and in their domestic league.” The German record champions' squad is “outstanding.” And his counterpart on the bench, Bayern boss Vincent Kompany, mirrors his team: “He is also excellent and gives us lots of ideas that we can adopt and incorporate into our model,” said Luís.

Luís: It’s what our fans expect from us

The structure, strategy, and tactics used by the serial Brazilian champions are similar to those of FC Bayern. “It's about putting pressure on the opponent, taking the initiative, and playing as vertically and directly as possible,” Luís explained. “That's what our fans expect from us, and that's what we'll try to deliver.” In other words: high, direct pressing and driving forward towards goal. Sounds familiar? It’s also the FC Bayern style.

Flamengo boss Felipe Luís handing out tactical advice

For his part, Vincent Kompany - at 39 years and two months just eight months younger than Luís – has built a Bayern team in just one season that is every bit as good as the Brazilians when it comes to playing high up the pitch to recover possession. Both teams understand high pressing to perfection.

This has even been scientifically proven: the CIES Football Observatory, a Swiss research centre that works closely with FIFA and specialises in statistical analysis in football, has identified Bayern's defence as the second best in comparison with all other clubs in the English, Spanish, Italian, German, French and Brazilian leagues. According to the study, Bayern began pressing an average of 57.16 metres in front of their own goal in the 2024/25 season with the aim of recovering the ball. However, Flamengo actually top this ranking with their defensive line, averaging 59.04 metres from their own goal.

Jorginho: It’ll be very tactical

“I'm sure it’ll be a very tactical game, extremely tactical,” observed former defender Jorginho, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 and played for Flamengo (1983 to 1990) and Bayern (1992 to 1995) in the course of his successful career: “Both teams press high, but a high line leaves you exposed. For me, that will be the deciding factor: which team can be better organised in defensive transitions? I've noticed that both teams can struggle with their organisation in those situations.”

Jorginho played for both Bayern and Flamengo during his career

Flamengo's defensive stats are slightly better than Bayern’s, with an average of 0.5 goals conceded per game in 2025 compared to Munich’s 0.98. However, the German record champions' attack is far more prolific and effective: FCB scored an average of 2.78 goals per game (150 in total), while Flamengo scored only 74 (1.95 on average). It will come down to the small details when the teams meet in the round of 16 on Sunday.

Two defenders from top European clubs

The two youngest head coaches at the Club World Cup in the USA now go head to head for a place in the quarter-finals. But they have even more in common: until recently, Vincent Kompany and Filipe Luís both played as defenders for top European clubs. Luís won the Spanish league with Atlético Madrid and the English Premier League with Chelsea as a left-back. Kompany played for Manchester City for nine years and won four Premier League titles.

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