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Joseph Reinner Lacina (born 12 April 1974), sometimes known by his nickname Big Joe, is a soccer manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Nottingham Forest.

Born in the Philippines, Lacina grew up in Philadelphia from the age of four. As a player, Lacina spent most of his club career as a midfielder for Real Madrid and played 128 games for the United States from 1996 to 2010. He won the Ballon D’Or in 1997, 2003, and 2006. He is widely regarded as one of the best athletes in the history of the sport.

His managerial career began at Nottingham Forest where at first he was on the verge of being sacked, but made an expected rise as one of the best managers in the world, winning the Premier league in his fourth season, and a continental quadruple in his seventh season, one of the biggest accomplishments of his managerial career.

2023-24: Readjustment to England and first season
In June of 2023, Lacina was appointed as head coach of Nottingham Forest on a four-year deal. In the summer, Nottingham Forest went on a massive spending spree, signing the likes of Evan Ferguson, Micky van de Ven, Julien Duranville, Assan Ouedraogo, Jonathan Rowe, Wilfried Gnonto and others for a total of £120m. His first match as the club’s new manager took place two months later on 18 August 2023 against Southampton in a 2-0 defeat. The season started rough, going without a win for 13 games, but his first win as the manager of Nottingham Forest came against Bournemouth, in a 1-0 win over the club. They went undefeated for 17 straight matches after that, but a loss against Manchester City led them to finish the season’s final eight matches with two wins and six losses, placing them in 15th. The club was eliminated in the early rounds of each of the competitions they played in.

2024-26: Continued growth
The next summer in the June transfer window, Nottingham Forest would spend £116m now, bringing in wonderkids like Lucas Bergvall, Archie Gray, and Endrick, but also star players such as Mats Hummels and Alphonso Davies. This would prove rather useless for this season, with their highest league finish being 14th, as injuries to key players made the club lower their position from a high of 7th all the way to 14th. The FA investigated them for breaches of Financial Fair Play in November of 2024.

The 2025-26 season was sought to be a new beginning for them, as Lacina stated, “It’s a disgrace what has happened to this club with great history. It once won Champions Leagues and FA Cups, but now… now I have to try my best to bring it to the levels of what once was.” Nottingham Forest would once again spend over 100 million pounds, buying Christian Pulisic, Vitinha, Kobbie Mainoo, and Bart Verbruggen as a soon-to-be replacement for Odysseas Vlachodimos. Their season would once again prove uneventful with them finishing 14th once again, and their biggest defeat being 10-0 to Manchester City, a club record. He sparked outrage with club supporters in January of 2025 when he sold Ibrahim Sangaré and Odysseas Vlachodimos, who were key players and fan favorites, when asked about it, he simply replied, “It is done.” He would also proceed to sell Mats Hummels to Ligue 1 club RC Lens, one year after signing him, leading supporters to calling for the club to sack him.

2026-27: Leading to success
His fourth season started with grief, as his friend and former mentor, Matthew Stelmach passed away on 12 March 2026. Lacina stated, “This season will be especially in my heart, as I can say that all my hard work has pulled off because of two men, him, (Stelmach) and my father. One of those men are dead, and now one of my eyes have lost the light in them. So to my good friend, whatever we do this season, whether we fail or succeed, this season is for you.” Lacina took transfer matters into his own hands, signing one player only, being Destiny Udogie, from Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain and selling star striker Evan Ferguson to AC Milan, leaving fans questioning Lacina’s leadership once again. Lacina confirmed that he had taken strategical instructions from his father, which turned to prove successful for his side, finishing 1st and winning his first Premier League title. In January of that season, Lacina signed Jeremie Frimpong, Jorrel Hato, and Neymar, also selling Christian Pulisic to Premier League club Arsenal in the process, with Frimpong and Neymar proving to be key figures in the club’s Premier League title win.

2027-28: The slump
In his fifth season in charge of Nottingham Forest, Lacina upgraded the training facilities, and club facilities, bringing in more funding for the club. This led to the club saving for the January transfer window in 2028, not buying a single player in the June transfer window of 2027 and selling not a single player also, completing no transfers that window. By the January transfer window, Nottingham Forest had been in a respectable 7th. Wanting to win the Premier League title once again, they had bought Riccardo Calafiori and Jobe Bellingham, hoping to bolster their bench. They won the FA Community Shield, but in all other competitions, it proved to be a failure, as they finished their season in 10th position, with Lacina stating, “I really can’t believe it. It’s like the players lost their shine and became happy with just winning the Premier League title the season before. I certainly thought not. I wanted to win more titles, not just one, not just two, but as many as possible; and if the players don’t want that? They can go to a losing club.”

2028-Present: Repeated success
At the start of the 2028-29 season, Nottingham Forest made a bold move signing world-class striker Gianluca Prestianni, who was a free agent at the time. They had also signed Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, making their defense one of the best in the league. The club’s season started strong, going undefeated in 17 matches, and conceding 28 goals while scoring 76 goals. With Prestianni and Endrick proving to be a striker duo for the ages. The defense proved to be solid with Van de Ven, Frimpong, Hato, and Udogie being great starters. The club would go on to win three trophies that season, being the Premier League title, the Europa Conference League, and the FA cup, a treble. At the end of the season, in a post-match interview after the club’s win against Leeds United in the Europa Conference League, Lacina stated, “It’s all because of my father, he taught me so much about the game, he watched Beckenbauer, Pelé, and taught me all their tactics. That is the football I love to watch, the defense of the Germany squad of 1974, the attack of the Brazil squad of 1958, it is heritage, and heritage we should all learn from. And heritage I have learned from.” The Prestianni and Endrick duo, (or Prendrick duo as fans would call them) would go on to score a combined total of 227 goals in the season, with both of them breaking Lionel Messi of Barcelona’s record of 91 goals in a season.

The club would announce the purchase of Stefan Bajcetic from Barcelona at the start of the 2029-30 season, and the absence of club legend Taiwo Awoniyi, with him agreeing to terms on a contract with Club Brugge. The team would once again go on a hot start, this time going 29 games unbeaten. They finished top of the table and hoisted the Premier League title for the third time in Lacina’s managerial tenure at Nottingham Forest. They would go on to set a Premier League record for largest defeat, with a 12-0 win against Stoke City, and winning the Champions League against VfL Wolfsburg 7-1, setting the record for largest defeat in a Champions League final, although goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois could not be there, going on a transfer to AFC Bournemouth the week before the Champions League final. They would also win the FA Cup and Community Shield, setting a club record in the FA Cup final against Southampton with 88,799 fans watching in attendance. Lacina called this season “Probably the greatest season of managerial career.” Stating, “I could have never imagined this day to come. I can’t believe I had come from playing for top clubs, winning Champions League, and then becoming a manager five years later, going through success and failure for six years, and then winning the quadruple after eleven years of trial and hardship. To my father, this is for you. To my good friend Matt, this is for you. To my family, this is for you. To Luis, this is for you. But most importantly, to the fans, to the players, to the staff, to the City of Nottingham, I love this place, and this is for you!”

Ajax

 * Eredivisie: 1989-90, 1994-95, 1995-96, 1997-98
 * KNVB Cup: 1997-98, 1998-99
 * Johan Cruijff Shield: 1994, 1995
 * Champions League: 1994-95
 * UEFA Super Cup: 1995
 * Intercontinental Cup: 1995

Real Madrid

 * LaLiga: 2016-17


 * Copa del Rey: 1992-93


 * Supercopa de España: 1990, 1993, 2012, 2017
 * Copa Iberoamericana: 1993-94
 * Champions League: 2015-16, 2016-17, 2017-18
 * UEFA Super Cup: 2014, 2016, 2017
 * FIFA Club World Cup: 2014, 2016, 2017

Hamburg SV

 * Intertoto Cup: 2007

AC Milan

 * Serie A: 2010-11
 * Supercoppa Italiana: 2011

United States

 * CONCACAF Gold Cup: 2002, 2005, 2007

Individual

 * Ballon D’Or: 1997, 2003, 2006

Nottingham Forest

 * Premier League: 2026-27, 2028-29, 2029-30
 * FA Cup: 2028-29, 2029-30
 * FA Community Shield: 2027, 2029
 * Champions League: 2029-30
 * Europa Conference League: 2028-29