I played Champions League for Leeds United but now I love managing world's 180th best team

Former Leeds United star Lee Bowyer says he is relishing the challenge of leading the Montserrat national team after taking a leap from club football management in England to being in charge of one the world's smaller footballing nations.

Cricket, not football, is the number one sport on the island nation who are currently ranked 180 in FIFA's world rankings. As one of the world's newest football nations which played their first-ever game in 1991, the country is looking to grow its presence on the world stage and hopes to do that under Bowyer's guidance.

The ex-Leeds midfielder has been in the position since 2023 and got his tenure off to a winning start, before successive defeats in World Cup qualifying against Nicaragua and Panama. Despite now being on a four-game losing run, Bowyer is relishing a different sort of challenge, working with a combination of professionals and amateur players.

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Speaking on The Football News Show, Bowyer said: "It's very good. something completely different, different to what I’ve done in the past. Obviously being in England, managing in the Championship and League One, this is completely different, there’s a lot of travelling but you get to see different parts of the world and it's good.

"I just felt it was a difficult challenge. I spoke to the president of Montserrat and he told me about the journey they want to go on. We had World Cup qualifiers in the summer and were hoping to reach the knockout stages in the World Cup qualifiers.

"That was a big draw for me, that and working with different levels of players because our players, it's tough we have some who play league football back home in the EFL and some playing non-league who have jobs as well as playing for their team.

"I know back home in England it's day-in-day-out, and there are positives to that because you get to mould your team, but the most important thing is you pass on your knowledge, that's why I'm here.

"I was very fortunate as a player and a coach to work under good managers, and now I'm here to pass on my knowledge to a group of lads who want to learn and improve."