Seven Premier League goals in a season. A Champions League title. Four back-to-back league titles at Manchester City. As a player, Yaya Toure achieved almost everything the game could offer him.
Now, at 43, he's embarking on a very different challenge: building a career in management from the ground up.
The Ivory Coast legend has reportedly agreed terms with Slovak champions Slovan Bratislava, setting him up for his first senior managerial role.
Since retiring in 2019, Toure has worked his way through a series of coaching positions, gaining experience in youth and assistant coaching roles while waiting for an opportunity at the first-team level.
Why Yaya Toure Chose the Long Road Into Management
When Yaya Toure retired in 2019, he could have waited for a big name to call. A Premier League club needing a coach. A national team looking for a figurehead. That call never came, and Toure didn't wait for it.
As Toure later explained, coaching wasn't part of a grand plan at first. The journey started almost by accident.
"I was sat at home watching TV and I started feeling a little bit annoyed. I didn't take it that seriously in that moment because I wanted to have this kind of freedom - just relax, because my body was hurt from a lot of difficult moments from games and injuries."
In his own words, the restlessness hit almost immediately. "After maybe two or three days, I started to be annoying," he admitted.
"I was watching all the games and commenting on them. I knew the Premier League was going to be on at this time, La Liga is going to start at eight. I was all the time, on the right time, watching TV. And I was thinking, 'what am I going to do?'"
That question became the starting point. "After that, I started the journey of thinking about building something suitable for me. That's how I started to get into the journey of coaching. I started to do all the badges possible."
While some former stars move quickly into high-profile managerial roles, Toure took a completely different road. He went to QPR and Blackburn Rovers to earn his first coaching badges before taking on his first coaching role.
When he joined Olimpik Donetsk in Ukraine in 2021, he said: "Even my agent was surprised when he found out that I wanted to study to be a coach in Ukraine, but I was firm in my decision."
From Ukraine, Toure moved to Akhmat Grozny before returning to England for a year at Tottenham's academy, where he worked under Antonio Conte and Ryan Mason. Choosing to develop young players rather than standing beside senior stars.
He moved to Standard Liege in Belgium.
Then came the move that perhaps shaped him most: when Roberto Mancini came calling for the Saudi Arabia national team role, Toure left Belgium to join his staff, reuniting with the manager who brought him to Manchester City in 2010.
Toure insists every step was deliberate. "I've been in Tottenham's academy for a while, I've been in Russia, Ukraine, and the last one I was in Saudi recently," he said.
"It was something enjoyable. Not so easy, but I think I needed to do that. To be ready, because I hope one day people are going to watch me with my team as a coach."
In January 2025, he completed the UEFA Pro Licence. By then, he had spent seven years working across five countries, mostly as an assistant coach.
Why Slovan Bratislava Picked Yaya Toure to Lead Their Champions League Push
Slovan Bratislava holds a record 25 national titles and has now won eight straight league championships, including the 2025-26 season. Domestically, they are in complete control.
But the question, as always, is whether that dominance can translate into Europe, where the level is far less forgiving.
Despite their dominance at home, Slovan finished 29th out of 36 teams in the Conference League phase last season and had already dropped out of Champions League and Europa League qualifying earlier in the campaign.
Improving that record in Europe will be a key part of Toure’s job.
He was not the only name on Slovan’s shortlist. Club chief Ivan Kmotrik Jr confirmed the list publicly, naming Igor Biscan and Yaya Toure among the candidates.
He also suggested other options remained under consideration, including Sergej Rebrov, Valerien Ismael, and Robbie Keane.
Toure won the race. His experience working across multiple countries and football cultures appears to have been the deciding factor.
Toure nearly got here sooner. A move to become head coach of Daring Brussels stalled last summer when financial chaos at Ligue 1 club Lyon, whose owner John Textor also controlled the Belgian club, forced the situation to be put on hold.
From Missed Opportunities to the Perfect First Managerial Role
That door closed before it fully opened. He didn't chase the next available vacancy. He waited for the right one.
Kmotrik had been clear about the club's approach throughout the search: "We don't want to drag this out. We want to resolve it as quickly as possible, but it's not an easy decision, so we definitely won't make any hasty or rushed choices."
Both men, it seems, were willing to take their time.
