Alex Clapham was on the brink of signing a contract as an assistant manager at a Championship side when the lure of Borussia Dortmund arrived. He recalls the moment he called his partner to tell her the opportunity was in Germany, not England, and how quickly they had to abandon their plans. "The first call was to my missus to tell her it was Germany rather than England," he says to Sky Sports. The German adventure turned out to be a whirlwind 18‑month stint as Dortmund's set‑piece specialist, a role that placed him in front of the biggest crowds in European football.
"It was crazy working at that level," the 37‑year‑old admits, "and it was not always easy." Clapham describes a particularly turbulent six‑month period under Nuri Şahin, highlighted by a Champions League night against Real Madrid in which Dortmund led 2‑0 before ultimately succumbing 5‑2. "An atmosphere I have never lived before. The best I have seen outside Dortmund," he reflects.
He also witnessed high‑stakes encounters with Barcelona and the fierce Bayern Munich rivalry, experiences that have become chapters in a career that has already taken him from Getafe in Spain to Vasco da Gama in Brazil and Genoa in Italy. He says he is now ready for the next challenge, wherever it may be. How does a man with no professional playing résumé reach such heights?
The answer lies in a decisive moment at age 23 when he chose to chase a coaching career instead of continuing as a semi‑professional player on muddy northern‑English pitches. Unable to enroll in England's coaching courses, he ventured abroad, earning his badges in Spain despite the high cost. "I was playing on muddy pitches in northern England and not enjoying it, so I wanted to coach but I could not get on the courses in England. I almost gave up," he recalls.
"I ended up doing all my coaching badges in Spain. It was an expensive sacrifice, but it has certainly paid off." The Spanish methodology impressed him: the attention to detail, the emphasis on player psychology, and the necessity of communicating in a second language. He remembers a Levante coach meticulously adjusting players' body shapes during a session, a lesson that broadened his tactical outlook. While living in Barcelona, he taught English during the day and rode the metro to attend coaching workshops in the evenings.
By the time he turned 30, he had secured the role of Getafe's U‑19 head coach. Getafe's pragmatic style, shaped by José Bordalás, left a lasting imprint. "What they did was stay solid, be compact, and then win off a set‑piece," Clapham notes.
He would often linger after the first‑team training to observe set‑piece routines, absorbing the nuances of Bordalás and his staff. Those insights later informed his own approach when he took a head‑coaching job in Sweden.
In Sweden, a chance meeting with Ian Burchnall opened another door, leading to a spell as a set‑piece coach at Notts County. Subsequent moves took him to Southampton and then into the orbit of 777 Partners, a group that deploys him as a specialist troubleshooter for clubs around the world.
In 2022 he arrived in Rio de Janeiro to work with Vasco da Gama, coaching in Portuguese and Spanish. "Living in Rio was one of the most amazing experiences. The players were so open to ideas," he says, recalling the freedom granted by head coach Jorginho, a 1994 World Cup winner. During his brief tenure, Vasco scored five set‑piece goals in seven matches and secured promotion back to Brazil's top flight.
Yet the celebration was muted; after the final game the squad dispersed quietly at the airport, a sobering reminder of the club's massive stature. From Rio, 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 a career pattern of hopping between clubs, each with its own culture, structure, and mentalities. "Sometimes you would be at a club one week, go away and then when you came back three weeks later, they had lost a couple of games and there was a completely different atmosphere," he explains.
These rapid changes taught him about team dynamics, staff management, and the importance of adapting quickly. His time at Dortmund proved especially educational because of the calibre of players he worked with.
Collaborating with world‑class centre‑back Nico Schlotterbeck required a high level of tactical precision. "A lot of the players now have their own personal analysts, so they would be the ones coming to me with ideas.
'What do you think about this? This opponent leaves that space…'" he says.
He learned as much from them as they did from him, noting that Pascal Groß, for example, is already preparing for a future coaching career after time with Roberto De Zerbi. One of the most memorable relationships was with Dortmund’s explosive winger Karim Adeyemi.
"He is an incredible guy. What a character," Clapham laughs, adding that Adeyemi forced him to adapt his coaching style. It took him until Christmas of his first season to truly understand how to communicate with such a dynamic personality.
He discovered that players often keep their feelings hidden, preferring brief, informal chats—perhaps over a coffee before a match—to express concerns. Clapham believes his background as a teacher helps him navigate these subtle interactions. "I probably took more from that than I imagined," he admits, suggesting that his future may lie beyond set‑piece specialization. He has been deepening his tactical knowledge through study visits, such as observing Cesc Fàbregas’s setup in Como and admiring Elche manager Eder Sarabia, whom he regards as a future Barcelona boss.
He also follows the work of Kim Hellberg at Middlesbrough and Kieran McKenna at Ipswich, constantly seeking new ideas. When asked about his next step, Clapham says the assistant‑manager role feels like a natural progression. "As a manager, you might not want to be too close to the players. An assistant needs to be close to them.
That is where I want to be 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 with strong ties to both Spain and England, he knows that wherever he lands, he will bring a wealth of experience few coaches can match.