Ranking the 10 best managers in club football: Guardiola, Slot, Luis Enrique…
Coaches from Barcelona, Liverpool and Real Madrid are among the top 10 managers currently active in club football – but who tops the list?
Managing at the elite level of the sport has never been more demanding, with an increasing number of games and increasing money sloshing around the game. But most of these top 10 are serial trophy winners in football’s gluttonous age.
As Arsene Wenger once claimed, “You’re loved when you’re born, you’re loved when you die – and in between you have to manage”. These adored managers are the exception to the rule.
10. Gian Piero Gasperini
Built on a vibrant attacking ethos, the rise of Atalanta under Gasperini was remarkable.
In his nine seasons in charge, they were ever-present in the top half of Serie A and won the Europa League in 2024.
Gasperini is now working his magic at Roma, turning an underachieving squad into a fearsome attacking unit.
He edges out Max Allegri in our top 10, who is achieving similar results at AC Milan without the same flair.
9. Oliver Glasner
Recency bias after Crystal Palace’s recent metamorphosis into prime Barcelona? Maybe.
But Glasner had a pedigree of success even before arriving at Selhurst Park, helping Wolfsburg into Europe and winning the Europa League with Eintracht Frankfurt.
The Austrian is walking on water after winning the FA Cup and Community Shield with Palace, playing thrilling and tactically intelligent football along the way.
Links to Manchester United will only intensify if Glasner keeps Palace upwardly mobile.
8. Antonio Conte
Winning the league with Inter, Juventus and Chelsea is one thing, but we might be currently witnessing the finest iteration of Conte at Napoli.
Not even loaning Victor Osimhen or losing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia in January could stop Conte winning Serie A last year, turning Scott McTominay into the Irn Bru Maradona.
He continues to get the best from Romelu Lukaku and has enticed Kevin De Bruyne to Naples. Legendary stuff.
7. Diego Simeone
Feared, revered, and resolutely among world football’s highest-paid managers, Simeone has remade Atletico Madrid in his own image since taking charge in 2011.
Under the four-time La Liga Coach of the Year, Atleti have won the league twice and the Europa League twice.
They reached two Champions League finals in three years, losing painfully to Real Madrid on both occasions.
There has been talk that Simeone’s project had gone stale, but a recent 5-2 hammering of their city rivals has reignited hope at the Metropolitano.
Add in his box-office behaviour on the touchline and Simeone won’t be leaving this top 10 for some time yet.
6. Mikel Arteta
Forget the unfortunate Brentisms, the fixation on set-pieces and the nagging lack of silverware; Arteta is clearly an elite manager.
His job since arriving at Arsenal in December 2019 has been phenomenal, transforming the club from mid-table makeweights into one of Europe’s finest teams.
Arteta has done so by changing the culture at the Emirates, while making the team more physically robust years before his rivals felt obliged to do the same.
He cannot rank any higher until Arsenal win either the Premier League or Champions League. But it’s his stellar work that has made the prospect feel almost inevitable.
5. Xabi Alonso
Alonso’s work at Leverkusen has become legend, turning the Bundesliga side from stubborn underachievers into invincible double winners in 2024.
Intelligent, tenacious and composed as a player, the former midfielder has been much the same in management so far.
No wonder Real Madrid snapped him up. His tenure at the Bernabeu has started promisingly and will be intriguing to follow.
4. Hansi Flick
For a club preoccupied with playing in a certain way, Flick has brought some welcome outside perspective to the Barcelona job – & he’s killing it.
Raphinha and Pedri are reborn, Lamine Yamal is already the world’s best player at 18, Frenkie de Jong is showing some of the best form of his career and Robert Lewandowski remains imperious.
Double winners in Spain last season, Barcelona were desperately unfortunate not to reach the Champions League final after losing an epic semi to Inter Milan.
With Flick at the helm, it only feels like a matter of time before they do.
QUIZ: Can you name every Barcelona manager since 2000?
3. Pep Guardiola
Guardiola is finally showing signs of fallibility, responding to a rare trophyless season at Manchester City by packing his team with big lads and hitting long balls to Erling Haaland.
And yet you wouldn’t rule out an Indian summer in the career of one of the all-time great managers. His achievements speak for themselves, redefining the sport at elite level while hoovering up silverware.
Only fools would write him off.
2. Arne Slot
Arriving at Liverpool in 2024, Slot realised he didn’t need to reshape Jurgen Klopp’s squad, but to tweak it.
Adding control and chiselling at the likes of Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Ryan Gravenberch to make them more rounded, Liverpool romped to the Premier League title.
Arguably Slot’s most impressive trait is his ability to read the game and make crucial tactical swaps to give his team the edge.
After spending over £400million in the summer, it will be fascinating to see how the Dutchman builds on his initial success at Anfield.
1. Luis Enrique
Not only did Enrique win the treble with PSG in 2024-25, adding to the treble he won with Barcelona 10 years before, but the Spaniard did so by crafting a team that looked like the future.
Joao Neves and Vitinha were exceptional, Gianluigi Donnarumma ascended to his potential, Nuno Mendes transformed into the Road Runner and Achraf Hakimi became the undisputed best full-back in world football.
And that’s without noting how Enrique gave Ousmane Dembele the stage to blossom into the world-beater he always promised to be. Dembele’s Ballon d’Or was all down to Enrique’s belief.
The next challenge will be defending their European trophy, but the 55-year-old has already set the standard for elite football in 2025.
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TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every manager to have won the Champions League?