Reims must pay a fee of $22,000 each time manager Will Still oversees a game, but it is understandable why the French club is content to accept the financial penalty.
Reims is currently unbeaten in 12 Ligue 1 games dating back to September after stealing a point from league-leaders Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday night.
Early in the second half, Neymar gave PSG the lead, but Folarin Balogun’s spectacular equalizer in the sixth minute of stoppage time preserved Reims’ winning streak.
The 30-year-old manager of the team, Still, has a remarkable tale to tell.
The half-English, half-Belgian manager, who was born in 1992, is the youngest manager in Europe and is currently pursuing his UEFA Pro License.
Reims are consequently faced with an eye-watering (€25,000) £22,000-per-game fine every time they play since he requires the license to take ownership of a Ligue 1 squad.
When asked if that is deducted from his pay, coach Still responded earlier this month to the Daily Mail: “Well, it’s been, sort of, negotiated.”
“The club said: ‘We’re ready to invest in your career. just as long as you keep winning!’”
Still acknowledges that managing against some of the finest players in the world, such as Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, and Lionel Messi, blows his mind.
He stated: “You reflect on it and think, ‘Why the hell am I doing this? How am I in the position to be coaching against these guys?’”
Video: Still celebrates as Reims equalise vs PSG
Will Still
William Still, a Belgian-English professional football manager and former player, was born on October 14, 1992. He now serves as the manager of Ligue 1 team Reims.
William was born in Belgium in 1992 after Still’s parents relocated there somewhere around the year 1990.
He attended a French school in Walloon Brabant and was raised in England.
In addition to playing for the youth teams of Sint-Truiden and Mons, as well as for Tempo Overijse’s first squad, which at the time competed in the Belgian Fourth Division, he also played for Flemish clubs.
Edward and Nicolas Still, Still’s two brothers, are both involved in football.
At the age of 17, Still moved to England to begin training to become a coach at Myerscough College in Preston, Lancashire. Still has said that playing the Football Manager and Championship Manager video game series’ made him decide to transfer his attention from playing.
Managerial career
Still began his professional life as the Preston North End U14 manager’s assistant. He completed an internship at the club as a part of his Myerscough College football studies.
In 2014, he was hired by Sint-Truiden as a video analyst after persuading manager Yannick Ferrera with the help of a match analysis.
The team was promoted to Belgian First Division A in 2015, but Still left to join Ferrera at Standard Liège.
Standard Liège won the Belgian Cup that year, but Ferrera and his assistants were fired in September 2016.
Still began a new employment in April 2017 with Lierse of the second division, combining his duties as a video analyst and Frederik Vanderbiest’s assistant manager.
Still visited Standard Liège again in June 2017, but he left two days later because his new club refused to carry out the agreements made as part of the contract discussions.
Nevertheless, he was allowed to return right away to Lierse, where (at only 24 years old) he was even named interim manager beginning in October after Vanderbiest was fired.
Lierse eventually hired Still as a manager on a full-time basis. Nevertheless, you were able to lead the group to 21 points out of 27, which included a seven-game winning streak.
The 2-0 win over Westerlo on December 2, 2017, however, marked the end of his tenure as head coach because he lacked the “UEFA A-level coach” certification needed to stay in charge for more than 60 days in the Belgian First Division B.
Still remained at Lierse but was appointed David Colpaert’s assistant.
Lierse was deemed bankrupt at the conclusion of the 2017–18 campaign. still departed for Beerschot to work as Stijn Vreven’s assistant.
Beerschot and Still were promoted to the Belgian First Division A under his replacement, Hernán Losada.
Still took over as Beerschot’s new manager when Losada resigned in the middle of January 2021 to begin serving as the head coach of D.C. United.
Beerschot’s owners made the decision to employ the more seasoned Peter Maes to lead them into the upcoming season despite finishing 9th at the end of the 2020–21 campaign.
Still joined Ligue 1 team Reims as manager Scar Garca’s assistant after leaving Beerschot. Still was offered positions at two Belgian clubs after spending four months in France, but he decided to go back to Standard Liège.
Still clarified that part of the reason for this was that he was having to go back and forth between Belgium and Reims to attend classes because his UEFA pro license was registered in Belgium, which was taking a toll on his time.
After the 2021–22 campaign, Still received a call from Reims inviting him to return as an assistant manager to the Ligue 1 team.
On October 13, 2022, Garca was fired, and Still was appointed interim manager. He was named manager for the remainder of the season after a five-game winning streak.
