Alex Clapham was on the verge of accepting a role as an assistant manager at a Championship side when an unexpected call came from Borussia Dortmund. The German club’s offer was so compelling that he had to drop everything and relocate immediately.
"The first thing I did was call my wife to tell her we were heading to Germany instead of staying in England," he recalled in an interview with Sky Sports. Fortunately, his partner embraced the adventure, and the 37‑year‑old Englishman soon found himself immersed in the world of one of Europe’s most attended stadiums, working as the club’s set‑piece specialist for 18 months. "The experience was insane – the scale, the pressure, the professionalism – it was unlike anything I’d ever known," Clapham said. "And it wasn’t always smooth sailing." His tenure at Dortmund included what he describes as a "six‑month turbulent spell" under the stewardship of Nuri Şahin.
One of the most vivid memories is a Champions League night against Real Madrid, where Dortmund surged to a 2‑0 lead only to see the match end 5‑2 in favour of the Spanish giants. "The atmosphere in that stadium was something I had never felt before – the most electric I’ve ever witnessed outside of Dortmund itself," he reflected. During that period he also experienced high‑stakes fixtures against Barcelona, the fierce rivalry with Bayern Munich, and the day‑to‑day grind of elite football.
Yet, for Clapham, each of those moments is simply a chapter in a broader journey that has already taken him from Getafe in Spain to Vasco da Gama in Brazil and on to Genoa in Italy. He now says he is ready for the next challenge, wherever it may be on the planet. How does a young coach with no professional playing résumé end up on such a globe‑trotting path? The answer lies in a pivotal decision he made at the age of 23 to abandon a modest playing career and chase a coaching future.
Growing up on muddy pitches in northern England, he found little joy in continuing as a player and realised he needed formal qualifications. However, entry into England’s coaching courses proved difficult, and he nearly gave up. "I eventually completed all my badges in Spain – it was a costly sacrifice, but it paid off," he explained.
He recounts a formative moment when a Levante coach demonstrated a set‑piece routine, meticulously tweaking players' body positions while speaking in Spanish. "Having to understand and apply that methodology in a second language was a massive learning curve. The Spanish approach, with its focus on psychology and technical detail, was a revelation." While studying in Barcelona, Clapham worked full‑time as an English teacher and would hop on the metro to attend training sessions in the evenings. By the time he turned 30, he had earned enough respect to be appointed the U‑19 coach at Getafe.
Although he admired Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Marcelo Bielsa’s Bilbao, it was Jose Bordalás’ pragmatic Getafe side that left a lasting impression. "They were compact, defensively disciplined, and relied heavily on set‑pieces to win games," he said. Clapham would often linger after the first‑team training sessions to observe the set‑piece work. "I absorbed everything the head coach and his staff did, and later applied those concepts when I became a head coach in Sweden," he noted.
That Swedish stint connected him with Ian Burchnall, leading to a role as a set‑piece coach at Notts County, followed by a spell at Southampton, and eventually turning him into a travelling specialist for clubs owned by 777 Partners. In 2022 he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to work with Vasco da Gama, again delivering set‑piece expertise, this time in Portuguese.
"Living in Rio was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The players were very receptive to new ideas," he recalled. The head coach, Jorginho – a 1994 World Cup winner – gave him complete freedom to implement his strategies. In just seven appearances, Vasco netted five set‑piece goals and secured promotion back to Brazil’s top tier.
Yet the celebration was muted. "We flew back to the airport and everyone went their separate ways.
There’s no grand party for finishing fourth in the second division," he laughed, noting the cultural difference in how success is marked. From Brazil he was approached by Genoa’s sporting director Johannes Spors, who was then at Southampton, and he contributed to Genoa’s promotion campaign as well. "I was moving from club to club, each with its own culture, structure and mentality," Clapham explained. He observed how quickly a team’s atmosphere could shift – one week a club might be thriving, and three weeks later a string of defeats could plunge the dressing room into gloom.
Those fluctuations taught him valuable lessons about staff dynamics and the importance of managing not only players but also the coaching team. His time at Dortmund proved to be an education beyond tactics. Working alongside world‑class defenders such as Nico Schlotterbeck forced him to raise his own standards.
"Many players now have personal analysts who bring ideas to me: ‘What do you think about this opponent’s movement? Should we block here or screen there?’" he said.
"I learn more from them than they learn from me – they become my teachers." He also formed a close bond with the club’s dynamic winger Karim Adeyemi. "Adeyemi is an extraordinary character. As a coach, I learned a lot from him because he required a different communication style," Clapham admitted. It took him until Christmas of his first season to fully grasp how to engage a player who is highly motivated yet reluctant to share emotions publicly.
Small gestures – a coffee before a match, a brief chat while lacing boots – became crucial tools for building trust. Clapham believes his background as a teacher underpins his ability to connect with players.
"I probably take more from that experience than I ever imagined," he said, hinting at his ambition to move beyond set‑piece specialization. He has been deepening his tactical knowledge through study visits, including a trip to Como to observe Cesc Fàbregas’ coaching setup and admiration for Elche manager Eder Sarabia, whom he regards as a future Barcelona head coach.
He also follows the work of Kim Hellberg at Middlesbrough and Kieran McKenna at Ipswich, constantly seeking new details to refine his craft. When asked about his next career step, Clapham sees the assistant‑manager role as the logical progression. "A manager may need distance from the players, but an assistant must be close to them.
That’s where I want to be for the next five years," he said over coffee in Madrid. Where that will be remains open – his network now spans Spain, England, Germany, Brazil, Italy and Sweden – but he is confident that the world is his playground. If he eventually returns to the UK, he will do so with a résumé few can match: a set‑piece guru who has coached in the Bundesliga, La Liga, Serie A, the Brazilian league and the Swedish system, and who has learned from some of the game’s most innovative minds. His story illustrates how determination, willingness to learn in foreign languages, and a readiness to seize unexpected opportunities can turn a modest coaching start into a truly global career.