‘This isn’t normal in football’: Xisco, Malaysia and the new Invincibles

<p>Royal family-backed Johor Darul Ta’zim are on the verge of a world-record 109 league games unbeaten and their former Watford manager is aiming higher</p><p>Many Watford fans felt Xisco Muñoz was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/oct/03/watford-sack-head-coach-xisco-munoz-after-negative-trend-of-performances">dismissed too soon</a> after leading them into the Premier League as Championship runners-up in 2021, only to be ousted less than two months into the new season. He is remembered fondly at Vicarage Road, an emblem of the churn-and-burn of the Gino Pozzo era.</p><p>But unless you continued to follow the Spaniard’s career closely, you would struggle to guess where he manages now. The life of a football manager is varied and unpredictable, but how has the former Watford head coach ended up in charge of a club 6,500 miles away and on the verge of an extraordinary world record?</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/football/2026/aug/19/xisco-malaysia-new-invincibles-football-johor-darul-tazim">Continue reading...</a>