Summary: Both seasoned and new managers are making waves in the world of football.
Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, and Hansi Flick are among the best-performing managers.
The 20 best managers in the world have been ranked according on titles, success, and longevity.
There are many excellent managers in international football right now, with some experienced veterans having a great 2024 and newer bosses emerging to make their claim as the best in 2025.
With the 2024/25 season nearly over, coaches have had plenty of time to stake a claim that they are deserving of a higher spot among other leading tacticians as they enter the campaign’s crunch moments, and as a result, the rankings have shifted to reflect their results.
With that said, here is a list of the 20 top managers in football right now, ranked according to the following criteria.
Ranking Factors
Trophies.
Recent success (awarded honours).
Longevity.
Performance met expectations.
International managers and out-of-work executives are ranked lower due to a lack of recent games.
In pictures: The world’s top football managers right now
20Luciano Spalletti
Current team: Unattached
Luciano Spalletti has dropped to 20th place after being fired as manager of Italy’s national team in June. The 66-year-old was dismissed of his duties following a humbling 3-0 defeat by Norway in a World Cup qualifier.
It would be interesting to see if the hugely experienced Spalletti, who has most recently worked with Serie A giants Inter Milan and Napoli, still has the will to re-establish his standing as one of the world’s finest coaches following this latest setback. But there’s no denying that the Italian has been one of the greatest in the industry over the last two decades.
19Nuno Espirito Santo
Current team: Nottingham Forest
After Steve Cooper led Nottingham Forest back to the promised land, it was difficult to envision anyone doing a better job with the team. Nuno Espirito Santo, on the other hand, was expected to struggle with the club after Cooper’s departure, but the Portuguese coach has thrived at the City Ground.
Nuno was rewarded with a new three-year contract in June after leading Forest to their highest league place (seventh) in 30 years, securing the club’s first European football season since 1995-96. Securing Nuno’s services for the foreseeable future is a significant coup for the Tricky Trees.
18Eddie Howe
Current team: Newcastle United
Eddie Howe had an outstanding first full season, helping to bring Champions League football back to St James’ Park. That, however, made his job even more difficult in the coming months, as the mega-rich Magpies, led by Saudi Arabia, sought to press even harder.
The project may have required patience at beginning, but Howe has already cemented his place in Newcastle history by leading the Magpies to their first major title in 70 years, thumping Liverpool in the League Cup final under the iconic Wembley Stadium arches in March.
17Gian Piero Gasperini
Current team: AS Roma
A 30-year-old overnight sensation. This is one way to describe Gian Piero Gasperini. The 67-year-old Italian has been quietly going about his business, establishing himself as one of the most dependable managers in his home country, doing serviceable jobs without much success until now.
After playing for Genoa, Palermo, and Inter Milan for five games, Gasperini joined Atalanta in 2016 and won his first trophy eight years later when his team overcame unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final. It was the cherry on top of the experienced coach’s already impressive record with the club. He was then appointed manager of AS Roma for the 2025–26 season.
16Luis de la Fuente
Current team: Spain
After working his way up through Spain’s youth teams, Luis de la Fuente was given an opportunity with the national team in 2022, and he hasn’t looked back since. Euro 2024 was a strong campaign for his team, and the 64-year-old led them to victory. After defeating England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final, Spain became the first team to win all seven games in a major tournament.
Following a difficult few years, the manager swiftly turned things around, as Spain dominated their opponents in flair during the European Championship. With such a talented, youthful group at his disposal, it may be prudent to begin preparing for the former left-back and his players to dominate international football.
15Julian Nagelsmann
Current team: Germany
Despite failing to win Euro 2024 as hosts and one of the favourites, Germany is still predicted to achieve great things in the future, thanks in large part to Julian Nagelsmann’s revolutionary ideas. Bayern Munich’s dismissal of the German stirred eyebrows, as the 37-year-old was doing an admirable job.
Nagelsmann was hired by the national team and has won 12 of his first 21 games as coach, including a remarkable and overwhelming victory over France. He has some of the most intriguing young players in the world at his disposal, like Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala, and the young manager’s reputation will skyrocket if he leads his country to another huge victory.
14Thomas Tuchel
Current team: England
Thomas Tuchel may have departed Bayern Munich under a cloud after losing the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen, but his reputation as a top-tier manager remains intact. Man United were in talks about potentially appointing him as Erik ten Hag’s replacement until the German pulled out.
Despite his domestic struggles, Tuchel has a successful track record in Europe, having led the Bavarian club to the Champions League semi-finals. They were eliminated by Real Madrid, but given their history in European play, it’s difficult to hold that setback against Tuchel. The 51-year-old has been named England’s new manager, and he will be charged with ending the team’s long wait for a major title. His tenure as manager of the Three Lions has also begun on a bright note, with the team winning both of its inaugural matches.
13Didier Deschamps
Current team: France
Didier Deschamps must be one of the most successful people in football history, adding all of his medals as a player to those earned as a manager. The Frenchman is the definition of a serial winner, as seen in the 2018 World Cup.
Some fans have grown impatient with France’s lack of success in recent international tournaments, but the manager was one penalty shootout away from regaining the world’s top prize in 2022. They underperformed at Euro 2024, but nevertheless made it to the semi-finals. Regardless, France will always have a chance in major tournaments since they have one of the top managers working in international football today.
12Lionel Scaloni
Current team: Argentina
The most notable achievement of Lionel Scaloni’s tenure as a football manager is widely known. He will be remembered for his role in Lionel Messi’s World Cup victory in 2022. Of course, that doesn’t do honor to his total efforts to change the country from a sleeping giant for many years to a team fighting for all major honours.
The 47-year-old also led Argentina to victories over Brazil in the Copa America 2021 final and Colombia in the Copa America 2024 final. He has worked with the company since 2018, taking up the position before turning 40. As a young manager, his success deserves to be ranked reasonably high on this list.
11Unai Emery
Current team: Aston Villa
Before the 2023-24 season began, nobody believed Aston Villa had a chance of qualifying for the Champions League, but Unai Emery ensured the West Midlands club finished in the top four. Comparing the Villans’ current situation to when the ex-Arsenal manager took over from Steven Gerrard demonstrates how extraordinary this feat is.
He has been regarded as a fantastic tactician after winning many European titles with Sevilla, and Emery was on the verge of adding the Europa Conference League to his vast list of honours before Olympiacos defeated Villa. Nonetheless, he has propelled the likes of John McGinn, Ollie Watkins, and Ezri Konsa to previously unthinkable heights, demonstrating that the Spaniard is a fantastic man-manager, and his team is in the midst of another busy end-of-season battle for European football.
10Mikel Arteta
Current team: Arsenal
Arsenal fans would rank their manager as the finest on the planet, as Mikel Arteta has altered the club’s fortunes in recent years, putting them in contention for the Premier League title for the third consecutive season. If the north Londoners had won the English Championship for the first time in 20 years, the Spaniard would have been hailed as a hero.
However, he hasn’t been able to get them over the line and hasn’t taken home any silverware in quite some time. This season, the Gunners were eliminated from both domestic tournaments, with a quarter-final departure in the League Cup and a third-round exit in the FA Cup respectively. They advanced to the Champions League semi-finals, but were defeated by a formidable Paris Saint-Germain team. Arteta has done an outstanding job of inspiring the club’s followers to dream of success in the near future, but his only critique is that it appears like next year will be the year to end the trophy drought.
9Diego Simeone
Current team: Atletico Madrid
Diego Simeone, one of the longest-serving managers in Europe’s top five divisions, has long been considered one of the world’s best coaches. In the 2024-25 season, Atletico Madrid had another good season, qualifying for the Champions League once more.
Simeone is possibly the best manager around when it comes to taking a realistic and firm approach, which is why he is so well compensated. Indeed, no manager in world football makes more than the Argentine, who has a choice of teams if he decides to leave the Metropolitano Stadium.
8Xabi Alonso
Current team: Real Madrid
Xabi Alonso’s performance at Bayer Leverkusen over three seasons was exceptional. His squad embarked on the longest unbeaten streak in Europe’s top ten leagues, knocking Bayern Munich off their Bundesliga throne for the first time in more than ten years.
Alonso won the German league title and added the 2024 DFB Pokal to Leverkusen’s trophy collection, but he fell short in Europe after an otherwise fantastic season. Many clubs across the continent had been associated with the greatest young manager in international football, but Real Madrid ultimately won the battle for his services.
7Antonio Conte
Current team: Napoli
While Antonio Conte is no longer one of the hottest managers in the world, the Italian has re-established himself as one of Napoli’s best tacticians after securing the club’s fourth Scudetto in 2024-25.
Conte’s reputation had taken a knock following his disastrous spell at Tottenham, but history has shown that he did an admirable job given the circumstances. Previously, he helped Inter Milan win Serie A, led Chelsea to the Premier League title, and dazzled as Italy’s first-team coach. All of this happened inside a decade. However, his defense-first philosophy appears to have persisted in his own country.
6Hansi Flick
Current team: Barcelona
While his reputation suffered as a result of a disastrous term in command of the German national team, Hansi Flick has reminded the world of his managerial abilities now that he is at Barcelona. The former Bayern Munich coach fitted in admirably at Camp Nou, leading the Catalan giants to the 2024-25 La Liga title while playing electrifying football.
The 60-year-old German coach also led Barcelona to victories in the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup. A domestic treble in his debut season in Catalonia? This is what you call a dream start.
5Carlo Ancelotti
Current team: Brazil
Carlo Ancelotti, one of the rare people to have won the European Cup as both a player and a manager, will leave a lasting legacy. The Italian started dabbled in management in 1995, and over three decades later, he remains one of the greatest in the business.
Ancelotti exudes an aura that earns him respect from players. Taking control of the Real Madrid squad, which is stacked with superstars, and getting them to work hard for the badge is a daunting challenge. The 66-year-old has won league titles in four of Europe’s top five leagues (Spain, Germany, Italy, and France), most recently completing a Spanish league and Champions League double.
His triumph in the latter implies he is without a doubt the best manager in the competition’s history. His time at the Santiago Bernabeu has come to an end, as he prepares for a new challenge with the Brazilian national team ahead of the 2026 World Cup championships.
4Simone Inzaghi
Current team: Al-Hilal
To be placed above Flick, Alonso, and Simeone in 2025 is a tremendous accomplishment that reflects Simone Inzaghi’s performance at Inter Milan. The Italian giants reclaimed the Serie A title after defeating fierce rivals AC Milan at the San Siro.
He also came close to becoming the first Inter manager to bring the Champions League back to Italy in the 2022-23 and 2024-25 seasons, losing narrowly in the finals to Manchester City and then Paris Saint-Germain. After a 5-0 hammering against PSG, Inzaghi left Milan for Al-Hilal, who shocked Manchester City by knocking them out of the Club World Cup this summer.
3Arne Slot
Current team: Liverpool
After a successful spell at Feyenoord, Arne Slot was picked to succeed Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool last summer. He arrived with enormous boots to fill. Given the history that the prior manager left at Anfield, Slot had a lot to live up to, and the pressure would have been easy to get to him soon. Instead, he has taken the Reds and propelled them to the top of the Premier League.
He has had the best start of any manager in Liverpool history and shows no signs of slowing down right now. The Reds have done an excellent job in choosing Klopp’s successor. This season, he has risen to the top of the world’s managerial rankings, and his bosses appear to be rewarding him with a big war chest.
2Luis Enrique
Current team: Paris Saint-Germain
Luis Enrique’s managing abilities were tested when the Spaniard was faced with guiding Paris Saint-Germain through the post-Kylian Mbappe period. The Frenchman joined Real Madrid last summer, and Enrique had to figure out how to win without him on the club. He’s done just that, winning another Ligue 1 title in early April.
He has genuinely rebuilt PSG into a better team without Mbappe, and they are thriving both domestically and in Europe. With Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Khvaratskhelia on his side, they are blazing on all cylinders, and with the Ligue 1 title, the Coupe de France, and their first Champions League title, they completed a historic triple in the 2024-25 season, with Enrique playing a significant role.
1Pep Guardiola
Current team: Manchester City
Pep Guardiola still has enough credentials to be considered the top manager in world football. Manchester City won their fourth consecutive Premier League title under the former Barcelona manager, but 2023-24 felt like a disappointing season. These are the high standards established by the Catalan genius.
Guardiola has sealed his place as one of the greatest managers of all time after winning the Citizens’ first European trophy as part of a historic treble in the 2022-23 season. While his team has suffered recently, there’s little doubt that the former Barcelona manager is the finest in the world.
Given that he recently signed a two-year contract extension to stay at the Etihad, the 54-year-old still has plenty of time to threaten to exceed Sir Alex Ferguson’s Premier League legacy, which no one expected when the famous Scot departed in 2013. With 39 career trophies, he is the second most decorated football manager in history.
With that said, City’s recent troubles have been eye-opening, and if things do not improve soon, Guardiola will be dangerously near to losing his reputation as the top manager in the world during the 2025-26 season.
The 20 Best Managers in World Football (2025)
Rank
Manager
Team
1
Pep Guardiola
Manchester City
2
Luis Enrique
PSG
3
Arne Slot
Liverpool
4
Simone Inzaghi
Al-Hilal
5
Carlo Ancelotti
Brazil
6
Hansi Flick
Barcelona
7
Antonio Conte
Napoli
8
Xabi Alonso
Real Madrid
9
Diego Simeone
Atlético Madrid
10
Mikel Arteta
Arsenal
11
Unai Emery
Aston Villa
12
Lionel Scaloni
Argentina
13
Didier Deschamps
France
14
Thomas Tuchel
England
15
Julian Nagelsmann
Germany
16
Luis de la Fuente
Spain
17
Gian Piero Gasperini
AS Roma
18
Eddie Howe
Newcastle United
19
Nuno Espirito Santo
Nottingham Forest
20
Luciano Spalletti
Unattached
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