Arne Slot (47 today ) has been ranked as the third best manager in world football right now

 

Ranking the

20-Best-Managers-in-the-World

Summary

There are many incredible managers in world football right now, with both experienced and young managers catching the eye.

Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Hansi Flick are among the best-performing managers around.

The 20 best managers on the planet have been ranked based on trophies, success and longevity.

There are many incredible managers in world football at the moment, with some experienced veterans in the game enduring a wonderful 2024, while younger bosses have emerged to stake their claim as the best around in 2025.

 

With the 2025-26 campaign now underway, there’s been plenty of time for coaches to prove that they are deserving of a higher spot among other leading tacticians. We’re updating the rankings to reflect the recent performance level of the sport’s elite bosses.

 

The following factors have been taken into consideration when ranking the world’s top 20 football managers right now:

 

Ranking factors

Trophies.

Recent success (honours won).

Longevity.

Performance compared to expectations.

International managers and out-of-work bosses are ranked lower due to a lack of recent games.

In pictures: The world’s best football managers right now

 

20

Thomas Frank

Current team: Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank

After doing a terrific job in west London with Brentford, it was time for a new challenge this summer for Thomas Frank. That, eventually, became replacing Ange Postecoglou at Tottenham Hotspur after the Greek-Australian boss was sacked following his win in the Europa League final – and the north Londoners only had their eyes on one man, didn’t they? That was Frank, formerly of Danish outfit Brondby.

 

The Bees were promoted to the top flight for the first time in 90 years under his steady stewardship – and that, combined with his attractive brand of football, has made him one of the most exciting managers in world football. The mastermind behind the development of Bryan Mbeumo and Yoane Wissa, who knows what he could achieve at Spurs?

 

19

Eddie Howe

Current team: Newcastle United

Newcastle United manager Eddie Howe applauding

Eddie Howe enjoyed a season of exceeding all expectations in his first full campaign as he helped bring the return of Champions League football to St James’ Park. That, however, made his job all the more complicated in the following terms as the mega-rich Magpies – under their Saudi premiership – looked to push further. He has, however, continued to thrive under the pressure.

 

The project may have needed patience at first, but Howe has already secured his place in Newcastle folklore by guiding the Magpies to their first major honour in 70 years, crushing Liverpool under the iconic Wembley Stadium arches in the League Cup final back in March.

 

18

Gian Piero Gasperini

Current team: AS Roma

Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini smiles

A 30-year overnight sensation. That is one way you could describe Gian Piero Gasperini. The 67-year-old Italian has been quietly going about his business, establishing himself as one of the most reliable managers in his native country, doing serviceable jobs without finding any major success until recently.

 

Having had stints at Genoa, Palermo and a five-game run with Inter Milan, Gasperini took the Atalanta job in 2016 and, eight years after his arrival, picked up the first trophy of his career as his side defeated the unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen in the Europa League final. It was the icing on top of the cake for all the good work the veteran coach had done at the club. He was then appointed manager of AS Roma ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.

 

17

Julian Nagelsmann

Current team: Germany

Germany head coach Julian Nagelsmann during a press conference

Despite failing to win Euro 2024 while being the hosts and one of the favourites, big things are still expected from Germany in the future and that’s largely due to the revolutionary ideas of Julian Nagelsmann. Eyebrows were raised when Bayern Munich dismissed the German, as the 38-year-old was doing a commendable job at the time.

 

Nagelsmann has since been hired by the national team and has won 13 of his first 25 games in charge of Die Mannschaft, including an impressive and dominant victory over France. He has some of the most exciting young players in the world at his disposal, such as Florian Wirtz and Jamal Musiala, and the young boss’ stock will rise significantly if he helps his country to another major honour.

 

16

Unai Emery

Current team: Aston Villa

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery watching on from the touchline

Before the 2023/24 campaign kicked off, very few would have given Aston Villa a chance of securing a Champions League spot, but Unai Emery ensured that the West Midlands outfit finished in the top four. Comparing the state of the Villans now to when the ex-Arsenal boss took over from Steven Gerrard shows just how remarkable this achievement is.

 

He has been highly regarded as a brilliant tactician after winning multiple European trophies in his career with Sevilla, and Emery nearly added the Europa Conference League to his extensive list of honours before Villa were dismantled by Olympiacos. Nevertheless, he has elevated the likes of John McGinn, Ollie Watkins and Ezri Konsa to heights that previously looked impossible. His slow start to proceedings in 2025/26 means that he has fallen down the pecking order.

 

15

Enzo Maresca

Current team: Chelsea

Enzo Maresca

Enzo Maresca deserves huge credit for the impressive job he’s done during his first season in charge at Chelsea – a football club that’s not always straightforward to manage and where a host of top coaches have previously failed. After Chelsea won just one of their six pre-season games ahead of the 2024/25 season, many people anticipated Maresca might become the first Premier League manager of the campaign to lose his job.

 

While there were some shaky periods during the season, Maresca eventually led Chelsea to a fourth-placed finish. More importantly, the former Leicester City boss delivered two trophies: the UEFA Europa Conference League and the hugely lucrative FIFA Club World Cup, which the Blues won following an eye-catching 3-0 victory over Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain in the final.

 

14

Thomas Tuchel

Current team: England

england boss thomas tuchel

Thomas Tuchel might have left Bayern Munich under a cloud after he was beaten to the Bundesliga title by Bayer Leverkusen, but that has not wrecked his reputation as a top-tier manager. The Premier League’s Manchester United were in talks over potentially appointing him as Erik ten Hag’s replacement until the German pulled out of discussions.

 

Despite his domestic troubles in the hot seat, Tuchel has a solid track record in Europe and guided the Bavarian outfit into the Champions League semi-final. They were eliminated by Real Madrid, but considering their pedigree in the European competition, it’s hard to hold that loss against Tuchel. The 52-year-old has now been appointed England’s new manager and will be tasked with ending their long, long wait for a major trophy. His time in charge of the Three Lions has gotten off to a positive start too, winning all but one of his opening six matches.

 

13

Luis de la Fuente

Current team: Spain

Luis De La Fuente

After working his way up through the Spain youth teams, Luis de la Fuente was handed a chance with the nation’s senior team in 2022, and he hasn’t looked back since. Euro 2024 marked a dominant campaign for his team, with the 64-year-old leading them to glory. Having beaten England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final, Spain became the first team ever to win all seven of their games in the major tournament.

 

After a disappointing few years, the manager turned things around quickly and Spain dominated their opposition in style during the European Championship. With such a talented, young squad at his disposal, it might be wise to start getting used to the idea of the former left-back and his men dominating international football ahead of next summer’s international showpiece.

 

12

Didier Deschamps

Current team: France

France manager Didier Deschamps

When adding all of his medals as a player to those in his managerial career, Didier Deschamps must be one of the most successful people in the history of football, especially from a managerial perspective. The Frenchman is the definition of a serial winner and proved that at the 2018 World Cup – but that’s not to say his days aren’t seemingly numbered.

 

Helmut Schon, Didier Deschamps and Joachin Low next to the World Cup trophy.

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Some fans have been known to get impatient with the lack of success in recent international tournaments, but the France manager was a penalty shootout away from retaining the biggest prize in world football in 2022. They did underperform at Euro 2024 but still made it to the semi-finals. No matter what, France always stand a chance in major tournaments because they have one of the best managers working in international football right now.

 

11

Lionel Scaloni

Current team: Argentina

Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni celebrating

Everyone knows the biggest achievement of Lionel Scaloni’s stint as a football manager. He will forever be known as the man who helped Lionel Messi complete football by winning the World Cup in 2022. Of course, that doesn’t do enough justice to the overall work he’s done to transform the nation from almost a sleeping giant for many years into a side competing for all the major honours on offer.

 

The 47-year-old was also at the helm when Argentina defeated Brazil in the Copa America 2021 final and when they beat Colombia in the Copa America 2024 final. He’s been in the job since 2018, taking on the unforgiving role before he hit the age of 40. To have achieved the success he has as such a young manager is worthy of a relatively high place on this list.

 

10

Diego Simeone

Current team: Atletico Madrid

Diego Simeone

One of the longest-serving managers in Europe’s top five leagues, Diego Simeone has hovered among the best coaches in the world for quite some time. In the 2024/25 season, La Liga outfit Atletico Madrid enjoyed another successful term as they qualified for the Champions League yet again.

 

Simeone is perhaps the best manager around when it comes to taking a pragmatic and solid approach, which is why he’s paid mega-money. Indeed, no manager in world football earns more than the Argentine, who would have his pick of clubs if he decides to leave the Metropolitano Stadium. His yearly wage is £25.9 million.

 

9

Antonio Conte

Current team: Napoli

Antonio Conte

While gone are the years of Antonio Conte being one of the hottest managers around, the Italian has been able to re-establish himself as one of the top tacticians at Napoli after he secured them their fourth Scudetto in 2024/25. And now he’s added Rasmus Hojlund and Kevin De Bruyne to the mix, success this season seems inevitable!

 

Conte’s reputation had taken a bit of a hit following his ill-fated stint at Tottenham, though history has proven that he actually did a commendable job given the circumstances. Before that, he helped Inter Milan win Serie A, took Chelsea to the Premier League title, and impressed as Italy’s first-team coach. All this in the span of a decade. Now, though, his defence-first mindset looks set to remain in his native country.

 

8

Mikel Arteta

Current team: Arsenal

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta smiling on the touchline

Arsenal fans would back their boss as the best on the planet as Mikel Arteta has transformed the club’s fortunes in recent years and had them in contention to win the Premier League title for a third successive season. If the north London side had become champions of England for the first time in 20 years, the Spaniard would have been praised as a hero.

 

Xabi Alonso in the middle, with Mikel Arteta lifting the FA Cup trophy on the left and Julian Nagelsmann lifting the Bundesliga title on the right

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However, he’s not quite managed to get them over the line and hasn’t brought home any silverware in quite some time. The Gunners were knocked out of both domestic competitions, with a quarter-final exit in the League Cup and a third round elimination in the FA Cup this season. They reached the Champions League semi-final, but were eliminated by a tough Paris Saint-Germain side. Arteta has done a phenomenal job to have the supporters of the club dreaming of success in the near future, but the one criticism of him is that, at the moment, it always seems as though next year will be the year to end the trophy drought.

 

7

Xabi Alonso

Current team: Real Madrid

Bayer Leverkusen manager Xabi Alonso

The work Xabi Alonso, a former midfielder during his playing days, did during his fantastic three-season stint at the helm of Bayer Leverkusen is nothing short of extraordinary. His team went on the longest unbeaten run in Europe’s top 10 leagues and knocked Bayern Munich off their Bundesliga perch for the first time in over a decade.

 

Alonso lifted the German league title and added the 2024 DFB Pokal to Leverkusen’s trophy cabinet, but he ultimately came up short in Europe in what was otherwise a tremendous season. Many clubs across the continent had been linked with the best young manager in world football, but it was Real Madrid who ultimately won the battle for his signature.

 

6

Carlo Ancelotti

Current team: Brazil

Real Madrid head coach Carlo Ancelotti shouting instructions from the touchline

As one of the few people to have won the European Cup as both a player and manager, Carlo Ancelotti will leave an ever-lasting legacy. The Italian first dipped his toe in the world of management in 1995 and, almost three decades later, he’s still among the best around.

 

Ancelotti has an aura around him that helps him gain respect from players. Being able to take control of a Real Madrid squad full of superstars and get them working hard for the badge is a difficult task in itself. The 66-year-old has won league titles in four of the top five European leagues – Spain, Germany, Italy, and France, while he’s won the Champions League five times.

 

His success in the latter means he is unquestionably the greatest manager in the competition’s history. His time at the Santiago Bernabeu has now come to an end, however, as he embarks on a new challenge with the Brazilian national team ahead of the 2026 World Cup finals.

 

5

Simone Inzaghi

Current team: Al-Hilal

Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi gesticulating on the touchline

To be ranked above the likes of Flick, Alonso and Simeone in 2025 is an incredible achievement and a testament to the work Simone Inzaghi did in Italy with none other than Inter Milan. The Serie A title returned to the Italian giants after they secured the trophy in the best way possible; against fierce rivals AC Milan at the San Siro.

 

He also came so close to being the first Inter boss to bring the Champions League back to Italy in the 2022/23 and 2024/25 seasons, narrowly losing in the final against Manchester City and then Paris Saint-Germain. The 5-0 thrashing against PSG saw Inzaghi switch Milan for Al-Hilal, who sprang a major surprise by dumping Man City out of this summer’s Club World Cup.

 

4

Hansi Flick

Current team: Barcelona

Hansi Flick

While his reputation took a hit after a poor spell in charge of the Germany national team, Hansi Flick has reminded the world just how good a manager he is now that he’s at Barcelona. The former Bayern Munich coach settled in nicely at Camp Nou and guided the Catalan giants to the 2024/25 La Liga title, playing scintilating football in the process.

 

The 60-year-old German coach also led Barca to glory in the Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup. A domestic treble in his first season in Catalonia? Now that’s what you call a dream start. The next step for Lionel Messi’s former club is achieving success at Europe’s top table again – and Flick, from his stint at the club, has proved he’s got the minerals to do so.

 

3

Arne Slot

Current team: Liverpool

Liverpool boss Arne Slot in the dugout

After a solid run with Feyenoord, Arne Slot was chosen to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool in the summer of 2024 and, as such, he arrived with gargantuan-sized boots to fill. Considering the legacy that the former coach left behind at Anfield, Slot had a lot to live up to, and it would have been easy for the pressure to get to him quickly. Instead, he’s taken the Reds and shot them straight to the top of the Premier League.

 

He’s enjoyed the best start of any manager in Liverpool’s history and is showing no signs of slowing down right now. The Reds have nailed finding Klopp’s successor and then some with the Dutch genius. He’s shot up the rankings of the best managers in the world this season, and his bosses were keen to reward him with a war chest in the transfer market as Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak all came through the door!

 

2

Pep Guardiola

Current team: Manchester City

Pep Guardiola during Manchester City vs Chelsea in the FA Cup

Pep Guardiola still has enough credit in the bank to be regarded as the second-best manager in world football. Manchester City, albeit in the past, managed to win four consecutive Premier League titles under the former Barcelona man, yet 2024/25 was a hugely disappointing campaign.

 

Having secured the Citizens’ first-ever European trophy as part of a historic treble three seasons ago, Guardiola has cemented himself as one of the greatest managers of all time. While his side have struggled as of late, there’s no doubt that he’s is still considered among the creme de la creme.

 

GIVEMSPORT Key Statistic: Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are the first English side ever to win four consecutive Premier League titles.

 

There’s still plenty of time for the 54-year-old to threaten to overtake the legacy left by Sir Alex Ferguson in the Premier League, which nobody thought possible when the legendary Scot retired in 2013. With all that said, the recent struggles that City have gone through have been eye-opening and if things don’t turn around soon, Guardiola will be dangerously close to losing his status as one of the best managers in the world during the 2025/26 campaign.

 

1

Luis Enrique

Current team: Paris Saint-Germain

Luis Enrique

Luis Enrique’s managerial skills were put to the test as the Spaniard was tasked with steering Paris Saint-Germain through what could have been a tricky post-Kylian Mbappe era. The Frenchman joined Real Madrid in the summer of 204 and Enrique had to find a way to succeed without him in the team. He’s done just that, though, and wrapped up another Ligue 1 title in early April.

 

He’s actually somehow transformed PSG into a better team without Mbappe and they are thriving domestically and in Europe. With Ousmane Dembele and Khvicha Khvaratskhelia in his side, they’re firing on all cylinders and with the Ligue 1 title, the Coup de France and their first-ever Champions League title, they won a historic treble in the 2024/25 season and Enrique was responsible for much of that.

 

20 Best Managers in World Football (2025)

 

Rank

 

Manager

 

Team

 

1

 

Luis Enrique

 

Paris Saint-Germain

 

2

 

Pep Guardiola

 

Manchester City

 

3

 

Arne Slot

 

Liverpool

 

4

 

Hansi Flick

 

Barcelona

 

5

 

Simone Inzaghi

 

Al-Hilal

 

6

 

Carlo Ancelotti

 

Brazil

 

7

 

Xabi Alonso

 

Real Madrid

 

8

 

Mikel Arteta

 

Arsenal

 

9

 

Antonio Conte

 

Napoli

 

10

 

Diego Simeone

 

Atletico Madrid

 

11

 

Lionel Scaloni

 

Argentina

 

12

 

Didier Deschamps

 

France

 

13

 

Luis de la Fuente

 

Spain

 

14

 

Thomas Tuchel

 

England

 

15

 

Enzo Maresca

 

Chelsea

 

16

 

Unai Emery

 

Aston Villa

 

17

 

Julian Nagelsmann

 

Germany

 

18

 

Gian Piero Gasperini

 

AS Roma

 

19

 

Eddie Howe

 

Newcastle United

 

20

 

Thomas Frank

 

Tottenham Hotspur