In the perfect picture of contrasting coaches' styles at this World Cup, Alejandro Sabella of Argentina stood near midfield dressed in a suit that looked appropriate for Wall Street, while Bosnia's Safet Susic stood nearby looking like he was headed for a workout.
Plenty of coaches are setting high standards for style this World Cup, with fitted jackets, gleaming shoes and ties in the national colours. Others look like they want to be comfortable exhorting their players and yelling at referees.
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Croatia’s Niko Kovac, a doppelganger of actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, has been a style star, wearing a fitted suit in the opener against host Brazil in Sao Paulo, but then losing the tie and jacket for a game in steamy Manaus.
“Very simple. For me, managing Croatia is a matter of great pride,” Kovac said this week.
“It’s a holiday for me every day, and our custom back in Croatia is, when it’s a holiday, you put on your Sunday clothes, and that’s it.”
Cesare Prandelli, who led Italy, and Costa Rica’s Jorge Luis Pinto certainly planned their World Cup wardrobes thoughtfully. Each dapper in their dark suits, they brought some style to their post-game handshake last week.
Then, there is the United States's coach Jurgen Klinsmann, a German who has turned California casual in his staple khakis and an un-tucked navy blue polo.
He will not wear red, though nobody really knows why, and team officials have never seen him in a tie – only a suit jacket when the occasion calls for him to go more formal.
Prandelli’s Dolce&Gabbana dark suits are classic, with a small Italian flag badge on the pocket.
“They have dressed us since 2006, when we won the Cup,” said Demetrio Albertini, the head of the Italian team’s delegation in Brazil and a vice president of the Italian football federation.
“It’s a great Italian brand and we’re honoured to wear their suits.”
Dolce&Gabbana published a book featuring photos of the Azzurri in formal and casual wear, in “a blend of tradition and national pride”. Proceeds go to a charity to aid a small Brazilian fishing village outside Natal, where Italy played its final Group D match against Uruguay.
Prandelli and Kovac are joined by Germany coach Joachim Loew on the World Cup’s best-dressed list.
Loew wears a fitted, dark button-up shirt with his sleeves rolled up and the top button undone, and grey slacks. The German federation has clothing contracts with Hugo Boss and Adidas, and Loew typically wears Hugo Boss for game days.
“It is very interesting to see the difference in styles between the more traditional and fashionable. To me, the most evident was the more natural shoulder of the Europeans and the South Americans versus the traditional Americans,” said Robert Nelson, sales director and brand manager for the company Vince Camuto in New York.
“Collar width and the mixing of colours was the next call out. The fashion-confident wore narrower lapels, some with narrow peak and paired with narrow shirt collars and narrow ties.
“Stronger colours like the deeper shades of blues and deeper shades of grey give these colours a more modern feel.”
The Greece coach Fernando Santos wore a dark suit and matching narrow tie for his game against Japan. When a ball came out of bounds toward him, he did not hesitate to boot it with his dress shoes.
Mexico’s Miguel Herrera has mixed it up, protecting himself from the pouring rain in an athletic jacket at Natal on June 13. When the weather cleared up, he switched to a dark suit and green tie for Mexico’s match with Brazil.
The Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli dances around the sideline in a white athletic polo tucked into grey polyester workout trousers by Puma with trainers.
No matter their formality, these coaches are getting noticed by a world audience.
“The coaches who have a role with Fifa World Cup soccer this year are quite diverse and distinct and can be cited as a great visual illustration of the global men’s market,” said Tom Julian, men’s fashion director at The Doneger Group, a retail merchandising and consulting firm based in New York.
“The mix of looks at the World Cup of soccer is welcomed, and it can allow for new ideas and product concepts to come to life.”
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
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Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
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