At the foot of Signal Mountain on a bend in the Tennessee River, over a small level crossing, past the sheriff at the gate and through an avenue of pines, the perfect pitch awaits Lamine Yamal, Rodri and the rest of the Spain national team. So does a man: 6ft 3in, 78 years old, Bill Nuttall, who is here every day.
“I’ve got nothing else to do,” he says, laughing. He has done it all: he cleaned out Pelé and got cleaned out by Gordon Banks, coached Gerd Müller and built a US national team from scratch for the 1994 World Cup. He also brought Spain here, hosting them at his training camp five miles outside Chattanooga.
From Saving Pelé’s Penalty to Coaching Legends
Nuttall’s story begins in 1976, when Pelé played for the New York Cosmos against Nuttall’s Miami Toros in the North American Soccer League (NASL). With the Cosmos leading 1-0, Pelé received the ball alone on the edge of the area. “I was the Toros goalkeeper. I’m looking around, can’t see anyone, so I go out and flatten him,” Nuttall recalls. “Today, you’re gone. I didn’t even get a yellow, but it was a penalty. Pelé looks at me, walks up and … I push it wide.”
That season, Nuttall was later replaced by Gordon Banks, the legendary England goalkeeper who had survived a car accident and played with one eye. “I said: ‘Ron, I won’t be a problem. I just want to train with this guy.’ Gordon and I got close. I am fas-cin-ated,” Nuttall says.
He became assistant coach under Cor van der Hart and worked with stars like Teofilo Cubillas, Brian Kidd, Jan van Beveren, Ricardo Villa, and Gerd Müller. “The nicest man you could ever meet, such a humble guy,” Nuttall says of Müller. “He hit the juice hard. It got very bad back in Germany but Bayern Munich really looked after him, cleaned him up.”
Building the US National Team from Scratch
When the US were awarded the 1994 World Cup in 1988, they had no professional league and only a “college all-star team”, as Nuttall puts it. His job was to build a standing national team. “Alan Rothenberg wins US Soccer presidential elections just after the 1990 World Cup. He says: ‘We’re going to have to have a standing national team ready for 1994,’” Nuttall explains.
As general manager, Nuttall signed players, organized facilities, and found games. “I had to find games because we had zero money and a coach who says he needs competition. As hosts, we didn’t even have qualifiers. I got lucky that the Soviet Union broke up: one potential game became six or seven. For three years we played somewhere in the world every 10 days.”
The team reached the last 16, losing 1-0 to eventual champions Brazil. “Brazil toyed with us, but that’s not the point: we lost [only] 1-0 to Brazil, [who became] world champions,” Nuttall says.
Bringing Spain to Chattanooga
Thirty-two years later, Nuttall helped bring Spain to Chattanooga for the 2026 World Cup. He called a contact at FIFA and proposed Baylor School, a $70,000-a-year prep school where his granddaughters attend. After inspections, Spain chose the site. “They loved the privacy, the size of the city, Baylor, the whole ambience,” Nuttall says.
Spain paid to set up the base, including a hotel downtown and training facilities on the tennis courts. “A lot of it will be taken down again but I’m sure they’ll keep some; it’s pretty cool. Everyone will be like: ‘I want to stay in Lamine’s room. Which one’s Lamine’s?’ Every room will be Lamine’s,” Nuttall laughs, referring to teenage star Lamine Yamal.
The city embraced the team. “The whole thing is just surreal. The city has been so excited. Everyone bought into it, gave so much, without realising the magnitude of the World Cup.”
