Alex Clapham was on the verge of taking a role as an assistant manager at a Championship side when Borussia Dortmund rang him up. The call was so unexpected that his first reaction was to tell his partner that the job was in Germany, not England. He packed his life and headed east, aware that the opportunity was too good to pass up.

The German club, which boasts the highest average attendances in Europe, gave the 37‑year‑old Englishman a chance to work as a set‑piece specialist for 18 months. "It was insane working at that level," he recalls, "and it wasn’t always smooth sailing." During his stint he experienced what he describes as "six turbulent months" under interim manager Nuri Şahin, including a Champions League night against Real Madrid where Dortmund led 2‑0 before eventually losing 5‑2. "The atmosphere in that stadium was unlike anything I had ever felt – the most intense I have seen outside of Dortmund itself," he says. Clapham also witnessed high‑stakes encounters with Barcelona and the fierce Bayern Munich rivalry.

Yet those moments are merely chapters in a wider odyssey that has 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 adventure, wherever it may be. How does a coach with no professional playing résumé reach such heights?

The answer lies in a decisive choice he made at 23 to abandon a modest playing career and pursue coaching. Frustrated by the limited coaching courses available in northern England, he travelled to Spain to earn his badges, a move he describes as "an expensive sacrifice" but one that ultimately paid dividends.

"I remember a Levante coach running a session where he tweaked players' body positions in a language I barely understood," Clapham recalls. "The Spanish methodology, the focus on psychology, was a world apart from what I knew back home." While living in Barcelona, he taught English during the day and took the metro to attend training sessions in the evenings.

By the time he turned 30, he had secured the role of U‑19 coach at Getafe. At Getafe, the influence of José Bordalás’ disciplined, compact style left a lasting impression.

"They stayed solid, defended as a unit and then tried to win from set‑pieces," Clapham explains. He would often linger after the first‑team training to watch set‑piece drills, absorbing every detail from the senior staff. Those lessons became the foundation for his next posting as a head coach in Sweden. In Sweden he crossed paths with Ian Burchnall, which later led to a stint at Notts County as a set‑piece coach.

From there he moved to Southampton before becoming a travelling specialist for clubs owned by 777 Partners. In 2022 he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to work with Vasco da Gama, coaching in Portuguese and Spanish. "Living in Rio was extraordinary – the players were eager to try new ideas," he says.

The head coach, Jorginho – a 1994 World Cup winner – gave him complete freedom to implement his routines. Clapham’s tenure at Vasco was brief but productive: in just seven matches the team scored five goals from set‑pieces, contributing to their promotion back to Brazil’s top flight.

Yet the celebration was muted. "We flew back to the airport and everyone went their separate ways – you don’t really throw a party after finishing fourth in the second division," he laughs, noting that the experience taught him how massive clubs operate under pressure. A short time later Genoa’s sporting director Johannes Spors, now at Southampton, asked for his help, and Clapham again played a part in a promotion campaign. He describes the subsequent months as a carousel of assignments: "One week I’m at a club, three weeks later I return to find the atmosphere completely changed – new results, new tensions, new expectations." These constant shifts sharpened his understanding of club dynamics.

He cites an episode at Standard Liège, where after a victory over Anderlecht the mood turned bleak and the head coach faced intense scrutiny. "It was a masterclass in managing staff and coaching other coaches," he reflects. Working at Dortmund proved to be another educational milestone, especially when collaborating with world‑class defenders like Nico Schlotterbeck. "Many players now have personal analysts who bring ideas to me – ‘Can we block this space?

Should we screen there?’" he says. "You learn more from the players than they learn from you; they become your teachers." He also forged a close bond with the club’s dynamic winger Karim Adeyemi. "Adeyemi is a phenomenal character and a huge learning curve for me as a coach," Clapham admits, noting that it took him until Christmas of his first season to grasp how to communicate effectively with such a high‑profile talent. Clapham believes his background as a teacher underpins his coaching philosophy.

"I probably took more from teaching than I imagined," he acknowledges, and it also fuels his ambition beyond set‑piece specialization. He has been in deep tactical discussions with João Tralhão, then Dortmund’s assistant and now José Mourinho’s right‑hand man at Benfica, who once asked why Clapham limited himself to set‑pieces.

In recent months he has been on a series of study visits: observing Cesc Fàbregas’ setup in Como, admiring Elche manager Eder Sarabia – whom he believes could become Barcelona’s next head coach – and keeping tabs on Kim Hellberg at Middlesbrough and Kieran McKenna at Ipswich. "I’m always hunting for more detail," he says. When asked about his next step, Clapham says the assistant‑manager role feels like the natural progression.

"A manager may need distance from the squad, but an assistant must be close to the players. That’s where I see myself for the next five years," he explains over coffee in Madrid.

Where that appointment will be remains open. The world is now his playground, with strong ties to both Spain and England. Should he eventually return to his homeland, he will do so carrying a portfolio of experiences that few coaches can match.