Why Uruguay manager Marcelo Bielsa is sitting on bucket at FIFA World Cup

Marcelo Bielsa is a revered head coach, but his actions on the sidelines often make headlines.

Bielsa, known as El Loco, will forever be remembered in England as the man who guided Leeds United back to the Premier League. However, his roller-coaster tenure with the club came to an end in February 2022 and he has since taken the reins of a national team and will be involved at the World Cup.

He was unveiled as the new manager of the Uruguay in May 2023, becoming the second foreign trainer in the nation’s history. The 70-year-old guided the La Celeste through the qualification process in style, and is now preparing to lead a team at the World Cup for the third time having led Argentina to the 2002 World Cup and Chile to South Africa in 2010.

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For all his high-octane football, Bielsa is equally renowned for shunning the dugout in favor of watching matches perched on a bucket along the touchline. He turned heads when he first produced a bucket to sit on at Elland Road, but the item went on to become a bestseller in the club shop and a defining part of his persona.

The manager believes sitting on the bucket affords him a superior vantage point compared to the dugouts, which often sit below pitch level. During his time at Marseille, Bielsa sat on a cooler box before upgrading to a bucket in the technical area, giving him a close-up view without having to stand.

When questioned about his decision to sit on the bucket early in his Leeds tenure, Bielsa responded: “You want me to tell you more than what it is? It’s just a bucket. I have nothing to add. It’s a comfortable bucket.”

However, in a BBC documentary last year, Guillem Balague suggested Bielsa’s bucket was motivated by more than just an improved view of the action. He said: “He [Bielsa] walks the four miles from his home to the training ground.

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“His intense walking during games and his moments of crouching down on what looks like a plastic bucket is his way of dealing with constant back pain that has not left him since his time as a player.”

The bucket appeared to unsettle opposition managers as well. Rotherham coach Paul Warne admitted feeling “a little nervy” upon his first encounter with the now-famous bucket. He admitted: “Sitting down on that thing’s a bit weird.

“To be honest, when it started, I can’t lie, I was a little bit nervy and I’m thinking, ‘phh, how’s it going to go today?’ I thought ‘I just need a little sit down for a minute’, but because he’s sitting down, I’m sitting down and I’m waiting for the press to go ‘oh, he’s copying him!’

“So I thought I’ve got to stand up, stay standing up. I jumped up straight away. But his looks more comfortable than my ice box. It’s a class bit of kit that. I’m pretty impressed.”

Bielsa leads an interesting Uruguay team, which features the likes of Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde and former Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez. Uruguay takes on Saudi Arabia at Miami Stadium on Monday, June 16.