Alex Clapham was preparing to become an assistant manager at a Championship club when Borussia Dortmund rang. He dropped everything. “The first call was to my missus to tell her it was Germany rather than England,” he tells Sky Sports. His partner enjoyed the move and Clapham learned a great deal during 18 months as Dortmund’s set-piece coach. “It was crazy working at that level,” the 37-year-old says. “And it was not always easy.”
He lived through a “six turbulent months” under Nuri Sahin, including a Champions League tie with Real Madrid where Dortmund led 2-0 but lost 5-2 — an atmosphere he describes as unrivalled outside the city. There were matches at home and away to Barcelona and the intense rivalry with Bayern Munich. For Clapham, it was another step in a career that has taken him from Getafe in Spain to Vasco da Gama in Brazil and Genoa in Italy. Now he’s open to the next opportunity, anywhere in the world.
Clapham’s route into coaching began at 23, after deciding he preferred coaching to playing. Unable to access coaching courses in England, he relocated to Spain, learning the language and completing his badges there — an expensive but pivotal choice. He recalls being struck by the Spanish methodology: attention to body shape, psychological focus and the challenge of absorbing it all in another language. While teaching English full time in Barcelona, he still took sessions and eventually became Getafe’s U19 coach at 30.
Though inspired by Guardiola’s Barcelona and Bielsa’s work in Bilbao, Clapham found practical influence in Jose Bordalas’ Getafe side: compact, solid and dangerous from set-pieces. He watched first-team practices and absorbed set-piece ideas that he later applied as a head coach in Sweden.
His career momentum continued in Sweden, where he met Ian Burchnall and followed him to Notts County as a set-piece coach, then moved to Southampton and began working as a travelling set-piece specialist for clubs linked to 777 Partners. In 2022 he was at Vasco, coaching in Spanish. “Living in Rio de Janeiro was one of the most amazing experiences. The players were so open to ideas,” he says. Head coach Jorginho, a 1994 World Cup winner, gave him freedom to work. In seven games at Vasco they scored five set-piece goals and played a part in the club’s promotion back to the top tier, though Clapham was struck by the understated reaction to that achievement — a reminder of Vasco’s size and expectations.
From Vasco he moved to Genoa at the request of sporting director Johannes Spors, helping there with promotion too. Clapham describes bouncing between clubs with varied cultures, structures and moods — one week you might help fix something, return three weeks later, and everything could have flipped after a couple of results. That taught him about dynamics, staff management and “coaching the coaches.” He recounts arriving at Standard Liege after a win over Anderlecht only to find the mood dire because the coach was under pressure.
Working with elite players was another education. Many now have personal analysts and come with tactical ideas, asking Clapham about positioning, screening and where to exploit opponents. “You learn more from those players than the other way around,” he says, naming Pascal Gross as someone destined for coaching, and noting several players who would test and enrich his thinking.
Clapham enjoyed a particular rapport with Dortmund winger Karim Adeyemi, a player who taught him how to work differently. He learned that players may be engaged but reluctant to voice views in a room with bigger characters — often the small, informal conversations matter most. His background as a teacher helped him connect with players and shaped his broader ambitions beyond set-pieces.
Conversations at Dortmund with Joao Tralhao, then the club’s assistant and now Jose Mourinho’s No.2 at Benfica, prompted questions about why he limited himself to set-pieces. Since leaving, Clapham has undertaken study visits — to Como to see Cesc Fàbregas’ setup, to watch Elche’s Eder Sarabia, and to observe coaches like Kim Hellberg and Kieran McKenna — always seeking more tactical detail.
He sees the assistant manager role as the logical next step: closer to players than a head coach might be, and the place he wants to be over the next five years. While he keeps one foot in Spain and another in England, the global experience he’s amassed — from Spanish youth football to Brazil and Italy, and the Dortmund high level — leaves him unusually well prepared should he return home or continue elsewhere.