FeatureBehind the Badge: The Brazilian coach who is living his dream at Liverpool
Luiz Fernando Iubel’s journey to Liverpool began, in spirit at least, two decades ago.
Back then, he was a teenager in his hometown of Curitiba, Brazil, with an obsession, a dream and an ultimate goal.
The obsession? Football: a passion he was gifted by, and shared with, his late father – an influential inspiration who is the guiding star of his career.
The dream? To become a coach.
The ultimate goal? To work in Europe – and, after being enchanted by events at the Ataturk Stadium in May 2005, for one club in particular.
“I’ve been a Liverpool supporter since the ‘Miracle of Istanbul’, so I’ve always had a close relationship with the club,” the 36-year-old, who joined the Reds as individual development lead coach in September, says.
“I love it here. I love every single minute of it. It’s a huge honour for me to be working at what is, for me, the biggest club in the world. It’s a combination of almost 20 years of hard work from when I started doing my first coaching course back in 2007.
“I have always dreamed of being a football coach since I was a little kid so to be here is a huge honour for me, for my family, for my wife and for my dad, who unfortunately passed away a couple of years ago, but wherever he is I’m sure he is very proud – and now he’s a Red.”
For someone still so young, Iubel has amassed an impressive amount of experience.
He holds UEFA A, UEFA A Elite Youth and CONMEBOL Pro coaching licences and arrived on Merseyside after leaving his position as assistant head coach of Atletico Mineiro.
A dual citizen of Brazil and Germany, Iubel has also worked for Bahia, Ceara, Coritiba, Juventude, Ponte Preta and Vasco da Gama, and led Cuiaba to the 2024 Mato Grosso state championship as interim head coach.
“I worked in some big clubs in Brazil but of course when you arrive over here and you see the size of the training ground, the size of the club, you understand it’s a different dimension. But that’s not something that scares me – on the other hand, it’s something that motivates me and every day when I wear this badge it is something that makes me feel proud,” he notes.
“To work in Europe has always been a professional goal of mine. I am also a German citizen and my wife and I also had the objective of having the experience of living here.
“So, I was always looking out for opportunities and the club posted this position online, I applied and then went through a very rigorous interview process which showed to me the level of professionalism at the club.
“That was something else that attracted me to Liverpool, obviously other than the tradition and the size of the club, straight away, from the first contact we had.
“That was very positive to me because I thought if they are going through this much detail and this many steps, they must think I am the right person and it felt the right fit for me as well – and here I am.
“When you have an organisation that is run so professionally, sometimes you might lose a personal touch but the club has not lost that here at the AXA [Training Centre]. Everyone really makes you feel part of a family so that’s the best of both worlds and I’m really happy with that.
“I love Liverpool as a city. I’ve been told that it’s part of the heart and the background of the city but everyone here is so welcoming. It’s just the perfect environment, although I’m still adjusting to the weather! But I’m getting there and I love it.”
What about Iubel’s role at Liverpool, then? What exactly does being the Premier League champions’ ‘individual development lead coach’ entail?
“My job is to make sure that high-potential players are developed in every aspect of the game,” he explains.
“It’s really about coaching every day and making the link between the first team and the U21s coaching staff to make sure that these players, and those players out on loan, receive everything they need in order to improve individually and be ready to hopefully take their chances in the first team when they come.
“Bridging the gap to the first team is not something I do alone because we have Alex Inglethorpe who leads the Academy very well and our U21 coaching staff, Rob Page and Jay Spearing, are great professionals who are always in contact with the first-team coaches.
“It’s my job to make sure that we create very detailed and specific individual development plans for the players and that we see these plans through. We monitor over the months to make sure that they are improving towards what the first team and Arne [Slot] needs.
“But if there’s not a pathway to the first team, it doesn’t matter how well you do your job because it’s not going to end up resulting in something positive.
“The fact that the boss is brilliant at leading the first team and giving opportunities to players such as Rio [Ngumoha] and Trey [Nyoni], for example – that was definitely a point that made me realise the importance of the job.”
Iubel’s first-hand knowledge of what a first-team boss prizes in young players is important, too.
“I have had the opportunity to be a first-team head coach back home in the Brazilian Serie A, so I understand the demands of football at that level,” he details.
“I understand what a first-team head coach wants from a young player, so as an individual development coach I can help bridge what the head coach is thinking and wants, versus the stage of development where the player is right now and what kind of steps we can make to make sure they are moving towards that direction.
“For sure, this gives you credibility with the players but more than that it gives you the feeling to say the right thing at the right time, to do the right kind of intervention for the player.
“That comes with experience and knowing when the right moment to intervene is, when the right moment to overload them a little bit with tactical information is, or not.
“That I was a head coach definitely helps with that. Also, the relationships I’ve been able to establish here – so quickly I have been embraced by the whole coaching staff, like Sipke [Hulshoff], by Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Aaron Briggs, Xavi Valero, Ruben Peeters, Jansen Moreno, and obviously the boss, Arne Slot.
“The way they have embraced me, it’s been great.”
Coaching is, then, a labour of love for Iubel, who has always thought deeply about football and now cares greatly about his responsibilities at Liverpool.
“I’ve always liked to play football and I still love to play now, but since I was a young kid, maybe from the age of seven or eight, I was the person who would arrange my teammates,” he says with a smile.
“I’ve always loved to study as much as I could about the history of the game. Back home in Brazil I was following the Premier League on a week-by-week basis since 2005 – I remember every team, every team that became champions.
“I remember watching a little bit of Liverpool from the Gerard Houllier era, I remember the Rafael Benitez teams, I remember the Brendan Rodgers teams. I have seen the whole Jürgen Klopp era, I watched most of the games then.
“So, I’ve always wanted to be a coach and what I used to think is, first of all, why not me if others can do it?
“If you work hard, you are patient and resilient, and you enjoy what you do and have a passion for it, it can be you. And the second thing is that one day my dad told me the history of Beethoven, that he created one of the most famous pieces of music of all time, Symphony No.9, while he was deaf.
“To be able to do that you must have an incredible knowledge of what you are doing. So even though I think I am very far from that, my goal was to study and learn as much as I could about the game, which is my passion, in the same way he did about his passion.
“To be honest, if you had asked me a few months ago to pick one club in the world to work for, it would have been Liverpool. But also, I qualified for German citizenship through my dad and I gained it one day before he passed away so to come here and work in Europe, I feel is a way of honouring him.
“I had a very close relationship with my dad. I am what I am because of football and I learned to love football through my dad and going to the stadium with him in Curitiba.
“I also feel that it’s a nice challenge to show the world the quality of a Brazilian coach. We have a lot of good coaches back home and we are passionate about the game.
“Those are the main aspects that feel important to me, the factors that have driven me here, and today I can say that I am part of Liverpool Football Club. I am very proud of that.”
- Keep an eye on Liverpoolfc.com for more from the new series of Behind the Badge.