Francesco Molinari says the Team Cup is the closest he ‘gets to being a football manager’

Francesco Molinari will play a key role at the ongoing Team Cup as he looks to register his second win as Continental Europe captain. This tournament at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club comes ahead of the Ryder Cup which will be played between Team USA and Team Europe in September this year.

While Molinari and his team have the experience, he recently mentioned that the Team Cup is the closest he gets to being a football manager. During a press conference at the Abu Dhabi Golf Club, Molinari was asked how important is it to create the right atmosphere in the team room.

Molinari answered by saying:

"Yeah, I think it's very important. I think compared to two years ago, it's a little bit different because we only have three nationalities, really, in our team. So on one hand, it should be easier, probably, to get some of the guys to gel but at the same time, you don't want to have three groups of people not gelling with each other. It's interesting. The team dynamics always fascinated me. I'm a huge football field, so always dreamt of being a football player and a football manager. So this is probably as close as it gets to being a football manager."

Molinari acknowledged the formidable challenge posed by opposing captain, Justin Rose. He emphasized that his team anticipates a fierce contest from Rose and his squad. The Italian also expressed confidence in Rose's leadership abilities.

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Francesco Molinari also spoke about having the winning formula

As mentioned above, Francesco Molinari will be looking to lead Continental Europe to a win at the 2025 Team Cup for the second consecutive time. Previously, Molinari and his men won this competition two years ago, which gives them a major edge.

At the same press conference, the Continental Europe captain was questioned about the winning formula employed two years ago, while acknowledging the presence of new players on the current team. Molinari was asked if any of his ideas had changed in comparison to last time.

Molinari answered:

"Yeah, obviously I think that the experience from two years ago is going to come in handy. I think a lot of the stuff that we did worked. I think obviously we were lucky to get the support from my brother and the other past Ryder Cup captains. It wasn't like I had to create anything new. But yeah, I'll do probably something similar maybe with a couple of tweaks here and will."

Francesco also spoke about his brother, Eduardo Molinari. He noted that Eduardo was assisting both teams in analyzing player combinations, strengths, and weaknesses.

For golf fans in the USA, the 2025 Team Cup can be streamed on the Golf Channel along with DP World Tour events. However, for those in the UK, the Team Cup can be watched on Sky Sports.