World Football’s Top 20 Managers Right Now – Nos. 20 to 11
The new season has already separated the smooth talkers from the serial winners. This isn’t a lifetime achievement roll call; it’s a live form guide. Trophies lifted, problems solved, ceilings smashed — that’s how we’re stacking up the world’s best gaffers right now.
How we’re ranking them? Recent results and silverware, the difficulty of the job, tactical imprint, squad improvement, and how they’ve handled pressure when it bites. These rankings are judged on form and silverware in hand — right now — not reputations built a decade ago. If you fancy a flutter on where the next trophy lands, check our best betting sites to compare the markets.
20) Eddie Howe — Newcastle United
From relegation worries to Champions League nights, Howe’s arc on Tyneside remains one of the league’s smarter rebuilds. Yes, the expectations have soared under the richest ownership in the game, but he’s embraced the load — blooding players, sharpening the press, and crucially delivering that long-awaited silverware at Wembley against Liverpool. Early stutters this term (including gut-punch late defeats) don’t scream crisis; a first victory over a Guardiola side underlined there’s still plenty of craft in the plan.
19) Oliver Glasner — Crystal Palace
Glasner is the modern man-manager: approachable, clear, and relentlessly organised. He made LASK punch miles above their weight and took Eintracht Frankfurt all the way to Europa League glory. At Palace, he’s turned promise into parade — that landmark FA Cup triumph — and then backed it up by toppling Liverpool in the Community Shield. He’s made Selhurst Park feel big-time, and when a coach does that, bigger jobs come calling.
18) Gian Piero Gasperini — AS Roma
Decades in the grind, then a late-career flourish. Gasperini’s Atalanta tore up the script with their fearless football and capped it by dismantling previously unbeaten Bayer Leverkusen to win the Europa League. Now at Roma, his blueprint has travelled well: sharp rotations, brave vertical play, and a table position that has the Giallorossi snapping at Milan’s heels after 13 matches. Veteran? Yes. Dated? Not a bit of it.
17) Julian Nagelsmann — Germany
He’s still the game’s archetype of the next-gen tactician: data-rich, adaptable, and unafraid of bold tweaks. Germany didn’t convert home advantage into a Euros crown, but the performances have been trending up, including a statement dismantling of France. Thirteen wins in his first 25 matches is a platform, not a pinnacle — and with Musiala and Wirtz at full tilt, his ceiling is still sky-high ahead of the next showpiece.
16) Unai Emery — Aston Villa
Give Emery a project and he will squeeze every last drop from it. Champions League qualification with Villa was a seismic achievement, turning good pros into elite operators: McGinn’s engine, Watkins’ timing, Konsa’s composure — all lifted. A European final slipped away to Olympiacos and the start of 2025–26 has been patchy amid PSR turbulence upstairs, but the tactical detail remains pristine. Villa are relevant and dangerous — that’s Emery’s signature.
15) Luis de la Fuente — Spain
From youth pathways to the big chair, De la Fuente has re-energised La Roja. The Euro 2024 campaign was ruthlessly efficient: seven wins from seven and a composed 2–1 dispatch of England in the final. The balance of slick technicians and direct runners is back, and with a young core maturing together, Spain look set to make a habit of turning fine margins into medals.
14) Didier Deschamps — France
Say what you like about style, but Deschamps deals in tournaments, not tutorials. He’s already lifted the World Cup and was a shootout whisker from back-to-back titles in 2022. Euro 2024 didn’t sparkle, yet France still made the last four. With the depth he commands, Les Bleus arrive at every event with a floor higher than most nations’ ceilings — and that’s coaching as much as talent.
13) Carlo Ancelotti — Brazil
The calmest heartbeat in high-stakes football. League titles across Italy, England, Germany and Spain, plus a record haul of European Cups from the dugout — there’s a reason stars run through walls for him. His Real Madrid tenure concluded without its usual crescendo, but a new chapter with Brazil promises intrigue: man-management gold, structure without straitjackets, and a squad built for tournament football.
12) Diego Simeone — Atletico Madrid
Pragmatist? Absolutely. Predictable? Never. Simeone’s Atleti remain a nightmare to prize open and a menace on the break, routinely muscling their way back into the Champions League picture. He’s the highest-paid manager on the planet at around £25.9m a year — and he earns it, engineering competitive sides against super-club budgets with a snarling identity that refuses to fade.
11) Lionel Scaloni — Argentina
The man who completed the Messi myth has done far more than hand over a golden ticket. Scaloni’s Argentina are cohesive, hungry and serially successful: Copa América 2021, the small matter of the World Cup in 2022, and another Copa crown in 2024 against Colombia. He took the job young, backed his ideas, and built a culture that wins finals. That’s elite management, full stop.
Stick around for the top ten: the margins get thinner, the arguments louder, and the silverware shinier. However you slice it, the dugout is packed with giants right now — and a few hungry upstarts ready to nick their dinner.
