Coaches who managed in men's and women's World Cups: Herve Renard joins John Herdman on exclusive list

It is a dream and ultimate goal for any football manager to be able to lead a country at a World Cup, often being the highlight of a career.

Some managers have been lucky enough to coach at multiple editions of the tournament, or to lead multiple countries in the biggest football competition of all, but there is a very small number of coaches who have the unique distinction of managing teams at both a men's and women's World Cup.

It is a rare achievement not only due to the lack of crossover between the competitions, but also due to the relative infancy of the women's World Cup, but recent years have seen notable examples of this occurring.

The Sporting News analyses which coaches have achieved this rare feat.

MORE: Who has won the most Women's World Cups in history?

Managers to coach both men's and women's World Cups

There has only been one previous occurrence of a manager coaching at a men's and women's World Cup, though that will increase to two when the 2023 Women's World Cup gets underway.

Herve Renard will become just the second man to coach at both forms of the World Cup when he leads France in Group F against Brazil, Panama and Jamaica, less than 12 months after he coached Saudi Arabia at the men's 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

The first manager to achieve this is John Herdman, who coached at three Women's World Cups with New Zealand and Canada, before leading the Canadian men's national team at the Qatar tournament.

Herve Renard as men's, women's World Cup manager

Renard will be taking part in his third World Cup as a manager, participating in both the 2018 and 2022 editions as manager of Morocco and Saudi Arabia respectively.

Whilst he was winless with Morocco in 2018, his Saudi Arabia side pulled off arguably the shock of the 2022 World Cup when he masterminded a 2-1 defeat of Lionel Messi's eventual World Cup winning Argentina, with footage of his passionate halftime speech during the match going viral.

The Hervé Renard half-time speech that changed the course for Saudi Arabia against Argentina ❤ pic.twitter.com/inIzi3JtCD

— GOAL Africa (@GOALAfrica) November 26, 2022

However, they couldn't maintain their momentum, as they lost their next two matches, meaning they didn't qualify for the knockout rounds.

He departed his role as Saudi Arabia coach in March this year to take the French women's team job, after previous coach Corinne Diacre was sacked after player discontent; he is expected to do well with a strong France side currently fifth in the FIFA World Rankings.

John Herdman as men's, women's World Cup manager

John Herdman also managed at the 2022 World Cup, as he led Canada's men's side to their first World Cup campaign in 36 years.

It was ultimately unsuccessful as the side lost all three games in a group containing Belgium, Croatia and Morocco, only scoring twice in two games and conceding seven times.

Herdman's previous World Cup experience came in the Women's World Cup, where he coached in three successive tournaments from 2007-2015.

His first two came with New Zealand, where they lost all three games in 2007 and managed one draw in 2011, before he moved to Canada in the aftermath and led the country in the World Cup they hosted in 2015; this was much more successful as Canada topped their group and advanced to the quarterfinals where they were defeated by England.

His success in the women's role made him an ideal candidate when the men's job became available in 2018, and he achieved the rare feat of managing both the men's and women's side from the same country back-to-back.