PAUL CLEMENT: FROM TOLWORTH BROADWAY TO BRAZIL

As excitement builds ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, a new link between Corinthian-Casuals and Brazil has come to the fore. Paul Clement spent a brief period with us in the late 1990s before going on to a celebrated coaching career that has seen him win honours with Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and PSG, and manage Derby County, Swansea City, Reading and Cercle Brugge. Now he is assistant manager to Carlo Ancelotti with the Brazil national team and he’s off to the biggest tournament in world football. He spoke to Dominic Bliss about his unique journey.

Paul, you’ve come a long way since doing pre-season with Corinthian-Casuals as a young player. With a garlanded coaching career behind you, you are now off to the World Cup as assistant manager to Carlo Ancelotti. How much are you enjoying being part of the Brazil national team setup?

Yeah, it’s been an amazing experience so far. We started last June, when the team hadn’t qualified yet for the World Cup, so we had four qualification games, but we got that done pretty early.

My first experiences were going to Ecuador, followed by a home game against Paraguay at the Corinthians’ stadium in Sao Paulo. I’ve been there a couple of times, once for our game and the other time for a Corinthians game. Before we played Paraguay, we also trained at Corinthians’ training facility.

After that, we had two more games in the following international window, which was September. We played Chile at home and we played very well in that game, when we qualified for the World Cup. And then we went to play in Bolivia another qualifying game, which was very difficult. We played at an altitude of 4,100 meters.

So the first couple of months in the job were very eye-opening, to a different continent. I’d never been to South America before and some of the challenges that that poses in terms of altitude were very interesting.

In Ecuador, we were in a place which was like a narco-controlled state, with a lot of crime and real heavy security. So it’s been interesting from that point of view.

After the qualification games, we had some friendlies, so we went to Asia, where we played in Korea and Japan. Then the team came to London in November and we played at the Emirates against Senegal, before we went to Northern France to play against Tunisia. We’ve had eight games so far, and it’s a different experience in terms of the rhythm, having been so used to working day-to-day in club football. In international football you’re not meeting the team so much, but there’s a lot of scouting involved, live and on TV or streaming services, to keep up to date with the performances of all the players.

Brazil is an amazing country. There’s a lot of passion for football and it’s a vast place – 220 million people. It’s a massive country and a totally different culture to Europe. So it’s been very interesting so far.

What was the atmosphere like at Corinthians?
​
Really good. Really passionate. It’s a great stadium and the training facility’s good as well. They’ve got a very good setup there. 

I imagine it’s exciting to be involved in a country like that where football is so important.
​
Of course – five World Cups and looking for the sixth. There’s a great history of winning and iconic players, going right back to those really successful times and even into the modern era. We’ve got really talented players at the moment as well, especially in the front positions. We hope to be really competitive in this World Cup.

Well, I’m going to take you from the World Cup back to King George’s Field in Tolworth. Tell me how you became involved with Corinthian-Casuals.

That’s a good question. I’d been to university, where I played football and basketball, and when I came out of university, I did my coaching badge as well – my preliminary license.

At that point, I went full time into teaching, but I wanted to continue to play football. So I was coaching part-time in the Chelsea Centre of Excellence while I was working full-time in a school in Sutton, teaching PE. At the same time, I was looking for a local club to get involved with.

Initially I went to Banstead Athletic, when Brian Anderson was there, and then he moved across to Casuals. I think the following year, I went down there in… it would have been 1997 or 1998, I would say.

I was playing in the reserve team at first, and I was starting to play well. I think I was close to getting called up and playing more regularly in the first team. I remember it was a pre-season game at home and we were playing against Dorking, and in the last second of the match, I broke my leg, right at the end of pre-season. At that point I was thinking, “Wow, this is not great for me. I’m coaching at Chelsea. I’ve got a job. I can’t really be getting injured like this.  I’m not going to be a footballer, but I’ve got a chance of being a coach.”

So that was the last time I played, and I was really enjoying it down there. There was a good bunch of lads, Brian was down there, and it was always a good pitch. I’m pretty sure Jimmy Hill was involved at the club then too. It was good, but that was the point where I said, “Ah, I have to stop now.”

Did you ever have any chance in that brief period you were here to understand what the club was about historically, with the links to Brazil and the England national team?

Yeah, it was there. I think what was partly special about the club was that it was a true amateur club, where a lot of other teams that we were playing against were getting paid. That was never in the ethos of the club. The way that it was, the club was established a long time ago, it’s a historical club.

Then I found out about the link with Brazil, and how the team had toured there and it was the inspiration for the creation of Corinthians in Sao Paulo, which I thought was really nice. But it was always a club with a lot of strong links in the community and believed in youth. It was a nice club to be a part of, and it’s weird how, all this time later, I’m talking about it when I’m with the Brazil national team. It’s pretty crazy really.

Have any Brazilians pointed it out to you, because we’ve had a few people contact us on social media to tell us there is a former Casual in the national team setup.

No, no one’s mentioned it to me from that side. But I did talk to one of the players who plays for in Milan – his name’s Carlos Augusto, a left-back – and he played for Corinthians. I’ve spoken to some of the staff about it too, and asked do you know about the link with Corinthian-Casuals? So it’s an interesting topic to discuss, because it’s a strange link, isn’t it? It’s incredible, really.

​When you were there at the Corinthians Arena with Brazil, did you think to yourself, I was with the team that founded this club. It must have been the strangest of full-circle moments.

Absolutely. I was, yeah. I was thinking about it, and when I was there, I was putting all the pieces together again. I got on the website and looked at the history – it was nice. So it was nice to think back like that.

What position did you play and what sort of player were you?

Left-back or left centre-back. I had a good left foot, that’s for sure. I could pass it. I’m a good passer, short and long distances. Obviously, with my height, not bad in the air. But that was my strength – I had a good left foot and I just, tactically, understood the game. That’s gone on and helped me with my coaching. I saw the bigger picture and understood my position and how to be in the correct place as much as I could be.

Unfortunately, I didn’t quite have that durability, or athletic ability to go on to better things, but I certainly enjoy playing and it helped me with that step into coaching.

Let me ask you about two managerial figures from your football journey, beginning with Brian Adamson.

Oh, I’ve got really fond memories of working with Brian. When he left and went from Banstead to Casuals, it was big. Part of the reason that I went was because it was him. I didn’t know much about the club at that point, but I’d enjoyed working with him.

I haven’t seen him so much recently, but he reached out to me a week or so ago by text and it was nice to hear from him. I’ll always remember him as a really good guy – a football guy, but a great gentleman.

Speaking of gentleman, tell us a bit about Carlo Ancelotti and how important your time working with him has been.

He has been, for sure, the biggest influence on my career. Over time, we’ve become really good friends as well. There was a period of eight years of not working together between the end of 2016, when I went to Derby and Swansea as manager, and going back to work with him in 2025, but we remained good friends and often met up or spoke. It’s great to be involved with him again after all these years – that’s a relationship that goes back to 2009.

Going to the World Cup must be right up there on your bucket list from when you were a football-mad boy.
​
Oh wow. I think my first memory of a World Cup was ‘82, in Spain and Bryan Robson playing in central midfield for England. I have vague memories of that one, but then really good memories of 86, 90 and moving forward. Now, in 2026, I’m going to a World Cup, but there’s going to a World Cup… and there’s going to a World Cup with Brazil, which is a very, very special thing. It’s getting close now. When we first signed, it seemed so far away.

Brazil's World Cup campaign begins with their first group stage fixture, against Morocco on Saturday 13 June, at 11pm BST, before they take on Haiti and Scotland.   Meanwhile, you can watch all the England games at this World Cup in the Corinthian-Casuals clubhouse, starting with the Three Lions' opener against Croatia on  Wednesday 17 June, at 9pm, for which the bar opens at 7pm. 

Don't miss our Fun Day and BBQ ahead of England's final group stage game, against Panama on Saturday 27 June, when we'll open the gates at 4pm and  have inflatable fun runs and It's a Knockout! games throughout the afternoon before the match kicks off at 10pm! Bring your family and friends down for a bit of summer tournament fun.