Alex Clapham was on the verge of taking a role as an assistant manager at a Championship side when Borussia Dortmund rang his phone. The call was so unexpected that his first thought was to tell his wife the job would take them to Germany, not England. "The first thing I did was call my missus to say it was Germany, not England," he recalls in an interview with Sky Sports.
Fortunately, his partner embraced the adventure, and the 37‑year‑old Englishman spent the next 18 months as Dortmund's set‑piece specialist, learning the ropes at a club that boasts the highest average attendances in Europe. "Working at that level was insane," he says, "but it wasn’t always smooth sailing." Clapham describes a particularly chaotic half‑year under interim manager Nuri Şahin as "six turbulent months." He witnessed a Champions League night against Real Madrid where Dortmund led 2‑0 before capitulating 5‑2. "The atmosphere in that stadium was unlike anything I had ever experienced, even outside of Dortmund," he notes.
He also saw high‑stakes fixtures against Barcelona and the ever‑intense rivalry with Bayern Munich. Yet each match, each training session, became a stepping stone in a career that has already taken him from Getafe in Spain to Vasco da Gama in Brazil and on to Genoa in Italy. Now he is looking for the next chapter, wherever it may be. How does a man with no professional playing résumé end up coaching at such elite institutions?
The answer lies in a pivotal decision he made at 23 to abandon a modest playing career and chase a coaching path. Growing up on soggy pitches in northern England, he found little joy in playing and realized he needed formal qualifications. The courses in England were out of reach, so he turned to Spain, where he earned every badge despite the high cost. "I was playing on muddy fields and didn’t enjoy it, so I wanted to coach, but I couldn’t get onto the courses in England.
I almost gave up," he admits. "I ended up doing all my coaching badges in Spain – an expensive sacrifice, but it paid off." He recalls a Levante coach demonstrating a set‑piece drill, meticulously tweaking players' body shapes while speaking in Spanish.
"Imagine having to grasp that methodology in a second language," he says, adding that the Spanish system's focus on psychology and detail was a revelation. While studying in Barcelona, Clapham worked full‑time teaching English to support himself, hopping on the metro to attend training sessions whenever possible. His persistence paid off when, at just 30, he was appointed head coach of Getafe's U‑19 side. Although he admired Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona and Marcelo Bielsa’s Bilbao, it was Jose Bordalás' pragmatic Getafe that left a lasting impression.
"They stayed compact, defended as a unit, and won games from set‑pieces," Clapham explains. He would often linger after the first‑team training to watch the senior squad rehearse dead‑ball situations, absorbing every nuance from the head coach and his staff. Those lessons formed the foundation for his first senior managerial role in Sweden. In Sweden, his network expanded further when he linked up with Ian Burchnall, later following Burchnall to Notts County as a set‑piece coach.
Subsequent stints at Southampton and a series of short‑term assignments with clubs owned by 777 Partners cemented his reputation as a globetrotting specialist. In 2022, he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to work with Vasco da Gama, conducting sessions in Portuguese and Spanish.
"Living in Rio was one of the most incredible experiences," he says. The head coach, former World Cup winner Jorginho, gave him complete creative freedom. Though his tenure lasted only seven games, his influence was tangible: Vasco scored five goals from set‑pieces during that period and secured promotion back to Brazil's top flight.
The celebration, however, was muted. "We flew back to the airport and everyone went their separate ways. You don’t really celebrate a fourth‑place finish in the second division at Vasco," he reflects, noting the sobering reality of working for a club of that stature. Soon after, Genoa’s sporting director Johannes Spors (now at Southampton) reached out, and Clapham contributed to the Italian side’s promotion campaign as well.
He describes his career as a series of brief, intense engagements: "One week I’m at a club, three weeks later I return and the atmosphere has completely changed because of results or internal politics. It taught me a lot about club dynamics." His time at Standard Liège, for example, coincided with a period of turmoil after a victory over Anderlecht.
The coach was under pressure, the staff were nervous, and Clapham learned how to manage not only players but also fellow coaches and support staff. Working alongside world‑class defenders such as Nico Schlotterbeck at Dortmund sharpened his analytical skills.
"Many players now have personal analysts who come to me with ideas: ‘What do you think about this opponent’s movement? Should we block here or screen there?’" he explains.
"You learn more from them than they learn from you; they become your teachers." He also formed a close bond with Dortmund’s dynamic winger Karim Adeyemi, describing the relationship as both rewarding and challenging. "He is an incredible character. As a coach, he taught me more than anyone because I had to adapt my approach to his style.
It took me until Christmas of the first season to fully understand how to communicate with him." Clapham believes his background as a teacher underpins his ability to connect with players on a personal level. "I probably took more from teaching than I imagined," he admits, hinting that his ambitions extend beyond set‑piece work.
Conversations with João Tralhão—then Dortmund’s assistant, now José Mourinho’s deputy at Benfica—sparked his curiosity about broader tactical responsibilities. He has since visited clubs such as Cesc Fàbregas’ academy in Como, admired Elche manager Éder Sarabia (whom he deems a future Barcelona head coach), and kept tabs on emerging talents like Kim Hellberg at Middlesbrough and Kieran McKenna at Ipswich. When asked about his next move, Clapham says the role of assistant manager feels like a 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 says over coffee in Madrid. Where that appointment will be remains uncertain; the world is now open to him.
Yet his experiences—from Spain to Brazil, Germany to Italy—have equipped him with a unique perspective few coaches possess. Should he eventually return to England, he will do so with a résumé that reads like a world tour of modern football, each stop adding another layer to his coaching philosophy.
He continues to study, network, and absorb new ideas, always seeking the next detail that could give his future team an edge. The journey that began with a phone call to his wife about moving to Germany now stretches across continents, and Alex Clapham shows no signs of slowing down.