The 20 Best Managers on the Planet Right Now — Part One (20–11)
The dust has barely settled on a breathless 2025–26 club campaign, the World Cup is crackling away, and the managerial merry-go-round is spinning at full pelt. Perfect time, then, to stack up the touchline titans. best betting sites are already pricing up next season’s silverware chases, but here’s where the brains of the operation truly stand. These power rankings weigh recent trophies, tactical identity, player development and big-game delivery as of summer 2026.
20) Andoni Iraola — Liverpool
From a slow burner at Bournemouth to a full-on firecracker, Iraola turned the Cherries into a high-energy, front-foot outfit and propelled them to a record Premier League points haul and European qualification. That surge earned him a two-year crack at Liverpool. The football is relentless, the man-management measured; now comes the acid test at Anfield. If he stamps his method on a bigger squad without losing that bite, he won’t be 20th for long.
19) Christian Chivu — Inter Milan
He salvaged Parma on the final day in 2025 and then strolled back into San Siro like he’d never left. The former Nerazzurri defender has kept Inter compact without muting their edge — and a Scudetto on the board shows he isn’t just a feel-good story. Still learning, yes, but the signs of a modern organiser with old-school nous are all there.
18) Luis de la Fuente — Spain
Rose through Spain’s youth ranks and then bossed Euro 2024, beating England in the final and guiding La Roja to a flawless seven-wins-from-seven — a Euros first. With a conveyor belt of slick, fearless talent at his disposal, Spain look menacing again. The World Cup will tell us if that tournament control travels, but the blueprint is sound and the belief is back.
17) Enzo Maresca — Manchester City
His Chelsea stint delivered a Club World Cup and Europa Conference League before politics and impatience turned the air sour. Now he inherits the keys to City’s title-winning machine post-Guardiola. Tactical principles? Clear as day. Temperament for the week-in, week-out title trench warfare? That’s the question. Nail that, and Maresca’s stock will skyrocket.
16) Carlo Ancelotti — Brazil
The eyebrow, the elegance, the encyclopaedia of medals. Five European Cups as a manager, league titles in a stack of top nations — there’s nothing left for Ancelotti to prove. And yet, Brazil’s Round of 16 exit has invited whispers about whether the great alchemist can still conjure it on the international stage. He remains an elite statesman with gravitas few can match.
15) José Mourinho — Real Madrid
The CV is dripping with history, but recent detours via Fenerbahce and Benfica didn’t exactly set fireworks off. Back at Madrid, the remit is brutal: manage egos, win everything. If the old edge returns — the siege mentality, the defensive precision, the knockout savvy — he’ll be arm-wrestling his way back into the top 10 before you can say ‘special’.
14) Diego Simeone — Atlético Madrid
A decade of snarling defiance has kept Atleti permanently punchy. The wage packet is galactic and so are the expectations — and while the trophy room hasn’t been overflowing lately, Cholo still turns European nights into street fights. Dumping Barcelona out of the Champions League and reaching another semi proves the method still bites, even if the margins have tightened.
13) Simone Inzaghi — Al-Hilal
At Inter he brought the scudetto swagger back and twice reached Europe’s showpiece, only to be outgunned — including that bruising defeat to PSG. The move to Riyadh dropped him down our list, but do not mistake that for decline. Al-Hilal’s ambush of Man City at the Club World Cup reminded everyone what his drilled, transitional football can do. The missing line on his CV is a Champions League; geography now makes that tougher.
12) Xabi Alonso — Chelsea
Leverkusen were a revelation under Alonso: unbeaten streaks, a long-awaited Bundesliga crown and the DFB-Pokal to boot, with only Europe eluding them on the final step. Madrid came calling; it didn’t stick. Now he heads to Chelsea, where clarity and control are prized but patience is in famously short supply. If he imposes his positional play amid Stamford Bridge turbulence, the ceiling is sky-high.
11) Jürgen Klopp — Germany
Back from a breather and tasked with rebooting Die Mannschaft. Euro 2024 slipped away, then came a historic shootout exit to Paraguay in the World Cup Round of 32. The mood music isn’t festive — but nobody energises a group quite like Klopp. He’s built empires on less than this. If he turns promise into punch, Germany’s next cycle could be his masterpiece.
What’s next
That’s 20 to 11. The top 10 is where the arguments properly start — the serial winners, the system wizards, and a couple of upstarts elbowing their way to the top table. Stay tuned for the business end of our rankings.
