Uruguay manager Marcelo Bielsa—El Loco to fans—will again watch from a bucket along the touchline at the FIFA World Cup. From his Leeds days to his appointment in May 2023, the 70-year-old keeps returning to the same odd sideline ritual, even as people around
When Marcelo Bielsa walks the touchline on match day, it isn’t the dugout he reaches for. It’s a bucket.
The 70-year-old Uruguay manager—known as “El Loco” after a career that has never seemed to slow down—has been preparing for the FIFA World Cup from that same vantage point. Uruguay are set to play Saudi Arabia at Miami Stadium on Monday. June 16. and Bielsa’s latest tournament routine will look familiar to anyone who remembers the Leeds United days when the bucket first became part of the story.
In England, Bielsa will always be tied to the man who guided Leeds United back to the Premier League. But the roller-coaster tenure with the club ended in February 2022. Since then. he has taken charge of a national team and will now be involved at the World Cup after being unveiled as Uruguay’s manager in May 2023. That appointment made him the second foreign trainer in the nation’s history.
Before the bucket ever drew attention, Bielsa was already making headlines for how he performs. He guided La Celeste through the qualification process in style. Now he is preparing to lead a team at the World Cup for the third time: he previously led Argentina at the 2002 World Cup and Chile at the 2010 tournament in South Africa.
His method is simple, and that’s what makes it strange. For Bielsa, the sideline bucket offers a better view than the dugouts, which often sit below pitch level. During his time at Marseille. he sat on a cooler box before upgrading to a bucket in the technical area—again. for a closer look without having to stand.
Asked about the bucket when he first brought the habit to Elland Road, Bielsa didn’t dress it up. “You want me to tell you more than what it is? It’s just a bucket. I have nothing to add. It’s a comfortable bucket.”
Still, the bucket has never been only a quirky preference. Last year, a BBC documentary featured Guillem Balague suggesting Bielsa’s choice was driven by more than just improved sightlines. Balague pointed to the manager’s routine of walking about four miles from his home to the training ground and the way Bielsa crouches down on what looks like a plastic bucket during games. The implication was clear: the bucket is part of how he manages constant back pain that has not left him since his time as a player.
That idea—comfort and control wrapped into a ritual—also helps explain why opposition teams can feel thrown off by it.
Rotherham coach Paul Warne described his first encounter with the now-famous bucket as unsettling. He admitted he felt “a little nervy.” Then he recalled the moment his brain started running through what it might mean on the field. “Sitting down on that thing’s a bit weird.”
Warne’s memory shows how the bucket becomes more than furniture—it becomes a signal in a sport built on interpretation. “To be honest. when it started. I can’t lie. I was a little bit nervy and I’m thinking. ‘phh. how’s it going to go today?’ I thought ‘I just need a little sit down for a minute’. but because he’s sitting down. I’m sitting down and I’m waiting for the press to go ‘oh. he’s copying him!’”.
He decided the safest response was to stand. “So I thought I’ve got to stand up, stay standing up. I jumped up straight away. But his looks more comfortable than my ice box. It’s a class bit of kit that. I’m pretty impressed.”
The bucket, for Bielsa, seems to settle him. For others, it does the opposite.
Uruguay’s squad, meanwhile, will carry the intensity of his coaching into Miami. The team includes Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde and former Liverpool forward Darwin Nunez. And as the tournament begins with Uruguay facing Saudi Arabia at Miami Stadium on Monday. June 16. Bielsa’s personal sideline icon will be there again—half comfort. half statement—on the very edge of the action.
Marcelo Bielsa Uruguay FIFA World Cup bucket El Loco Miami Stadium Saudi Arabia Federico Valverde Darwin Nunez World Cup 2026 Leeds United Paul Warne Guillem Balague
Bucket > dugout, idk why but I’m here for it.
Wait so he’s just… sitting in a bucket during the games? That’s kinda funny but also kinda brilliant? I guess if it helps him focus.
This sounds like something he does for attention honestly. Like Leeds fans got used to his weird stuff, now Uruguay does too. Also Miami Stadium is in… Miami obviously but why are they playing so early June 16 like that? seems off.
I don’t even watch Uruguay but Bielsa in a bucket is the kind of weird detail I remember. Leeds to Argentina to Chile to Uruguay… dude never stops. I saw on TikTok he was “El Loco” because he’s crazy, not because of the bucket though lol. Anyway hope Saudi Arabia game isn’t boring, because apparently he’ll be staring from a bucket the whole time.