Top 10 Best Soccer Managers of All Time

Great managers aren't just tacticians. They're visionaries who shape teams, redefine strategies, and inspire generations of players and fans. Some build dynasties, turning clubs into dominant forces for years. Others specialize in short-term transformations, bringing immediate success wherever they go. A few change the game itself, introducing new styles of play that influence football for decades.

This list gives you the chance to weigh in on the greatest to ever do it. Who belongs at the top? Vote for the choices that deserve recognition. Whether you admire those who dominate domestic leagues year after year, managers who master the art of knockout tournaments, or those who prove their brilliance across different clubs and countries, your votes help shape the rankings.

The Top Ten

Alex Ferguson

Best manager ever, and I know the main reason is what he did at Man Utd but don't forget about Aberdeen. Great success there too. Even at St. Mirren (from wiki) Ferguson was manager of St. Mirren from 1974 until 1978, producing a remarkable transformation of a team in the lower half of the old Second Division watched by crowds of just over 1,000, to First Division champions in 1977, discovering talent like Billy Stark, Tony Fitzpatrick, Lex Richardson, Frank McGarvey, Bobby Reid, and Peter Weir while playing superb attacking football.

There are many great football managers, each of them for different reasons. What makes Sir Alex Ferguson the absolute best of them all though, except for what is listed here (36 trophies with Manchester United, his royalty, domination with Man Utd while taking the team at very difficult times, European success with Aberdeen for God's sake!) is the fact that even though someone can say that Paisley, Mourinho, or Matt Busby is better and be a respected opinion, they all will say that they are even better than Sir Alex. Well, guess why…
José Mourinho

Winning! With him, it's all about the results, and he will get the best out of whatever players he is given. Discipline! No "prima donnas" on his squads… The team is the only relevant entity. Tactics! Can play any style anywhere with any quality of players he is given, and make mediocre teams punch way above their weight. Downside: Chose Chelsea over Spurs. Is now the coach of Real Madrid, instead of taking on a true challenge… Winning the EPL with Spurs!

Simple test: when he goes to a team, that team is always better than it was in past years. Porto and Chelsea have seen their best under him. More than half of Chelsea's history is gained by Mourinho. Compare his Inter 2008-2010 with the era before him. Real Madrid didn't see CL semi-finals for 8 years before him. When he came, they were at CL semi-finals for 3 consecutive years. And finally, good days to come for Manchester United. They will be better than their last years.
Arsene Wenger

Arsène Charles Ernest Wenger (born 22 October 1949) is a French former football manager and player who is currently serving as FIFA's Chief of Global Football Development.
He was the manager of Arsenal from 1996 to 2018, making him the longest-serving and most successful manager in the club's... read more

Arsene Wenger doesn't leave the club behind when they were falling apart! Is there any other manager who could be as faithful and loyal as Arsene Wenger? I doubt that. People troll about him, joke about him, many of his star players left but he doesn't give up and always pulls Arsenal together. He is the best manager.

I think he is the best football manager of all time. A true legend and a football entertainer who makes watching football fun. Arsenal is only the second most entertaining football team in the world to Barcelona. They play good and entertaining football.
Pep Guardiola

Guardiola is one of the legendary coaches in the world. He won cups for Bayern Munich and 14 cups for Barcelona. Definitely, he is a champion as a manager. Guardiola can perform in any club as a manager who has a passion for soccer.

Absolutely the best. His success in Barcelona is just a real example of how much he knows about this great sport that is soccer. Cheers to him! Even though he is leaving Barcelona, he will always be with us.

73.24% Win rate. What else is there to say? He is simply the best of them all. Now he's at City, and he's going to win the league at least once, maybe twice. He will also most likely win the Champions League too.
Johan Cruyff

Hendrik Johannes "Johan" Cruijff (April 25, 1947 - March 24, 2016) was a Dutch professional football player and coach. He won the Ballon d'Or three times, in 1971, 1973, and 1974.
Cruyff was a leading figure in the development of Total Football, a tactical approach popularized by Rinus Michels... read more

Not only was he the greatest manager of all time for what he was able to accomplish with Ajax and Barcelona, but he also built the foundation for the Barcelona of today that is clearly the greatest team in the world.

Won the European Cup with Barcelona and eight league titles with Ajax.

He's definitely not the best manager, but he's still an awesome one though.
Bob Paisley

Alex Ferguson might be the greatest manager of all time, but the best one is definitely Bob Paisley. He really destroyed the whole of Europe and England with Liverpool FC.

He managed Liverpool for 10 years and won 20 trophies. Imagine he had managed Liverpool for 20 years. How many more would he win for Liverpool?

Three European Cups in nine years compared to two in 25?
Carlo Ancelotti

For sure, he's much better than Guardiola. Guardiola just manages teams full of stars like Barcelona in 2008 that had Henry, Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto'o, Messi. Then he joined FC Bayern, which was the strongest team in Germany.

One of the three managers to have won three UEFA Champions Leagues. A record of consecutive wins with Madrid and, most of all, the coveted 'La Decima' that eluded even Mourinho. Simply the best!

Winner at Chelsea, PSG, and AC Milan where he led them to Champions League titles. Great tactician as well.
Roberto Di Matteo
Jürgen Klopp

Excellent manager. He transformed Dortmund from an average mid-table side in the Bundesliga to consecutive title winners and Champions League finalists. Wish him all the best at LFC.

Love him so much! The best ongoing manager! Time to hit best manager of all-time!

Has qualities to develop young players and give a pressing game.
Fabio Capello

Won the European Cup with Milan.

The Newcomers

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Erik ten Hag
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Mario Basler

The Contenders

Bill Shankly

Started the boot room which collectively won 13 leagues, 4 European Cups, and 4 FA Cups.

Started the only legacy bigger than Guardiola's Barca and Brazil's Joga Bonito. Come on, at least top 3!

Started the legacy at Liverpool.
Matt Busby

A remarkable man. He formed the Busby Babes, survived the Munich Air Crash (just). He rebuilt the Manchester United team to win the European Cup in 1968. He took English sides into Europe and created the Manchester United post-war legacy.

Revolutionized football. Created the modern-day Manchester United. We owe everything to him.

How can he be below Mourinho, Wenger, Capello? He rebuilt Manchester after 1958. He is one of the best football managers alongside Alex Ferguson.
Jock Stein

A great manager. His teams played total football before the term had been introduced. Success was achieved with a team of local men - no expensive imports. It is always most difficult to be the first to achieve great success, and that is exactly what he achieved.

The first manager to win the European Cup with 11 players from the same country and the first non-Latin team also. Rinus Michels came over to Celtic to find out how big Jock trained his local boys and he went back to Holland and did the same. Ferguson and Shanks both said that big Jock was the greatest.
Brian Clough

Success is relative to where you start and the resources you have available. Big clubs are expected to win league titles and challenge in Europe. Modest clubs like Derby County and Nottingham Forest (both in the lower reaches of the 2nd tier when Clough took over) aren't. Forest winning one European Cup is more remarkable than Real Madrid winning a dozen. For Forest to win two is fantasy stuff. Clough stands apart from any other manager.

This man is greater than any other manager ever. I'm sorry, but he has achieved far more than your Alex Ferguson or your Jose in terms of literally creating success, even if those two have won more silverware.
Rafael Benítez
Vicente del Bosque
David Moyes

He managed to win against top teams like Man City 8 of 10 times in the last meetings and he won against Man Utd and Chelsea. In the 2011-12 season, with the squad and money he had, he also managed without much money, built great teams, and brought in great underrated players.
Jupp Heynckes
Roberto Mancini

Managed better than most of those above. He is a great manager, and he has not let Manchester City down. He has also won the Premier League with the great team he manages.

Roberto Mancini made Manchester City one of the best teams in the Barclays Premier League.
Marcello Lippi

Four Champions League finals, one victory, and a series of Serie A championships with Juventus. Won the World Cup in 2006 with Italy.
Louis van Gaal

He managed Ajax Amsterdam, the Netherlands (national team), Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester United. I think he should be fourth on this list.

He has great tactics. Please move him to Manchester United.
He should be in the top ten.

He brought the struggling Manchester United to life again!
Fatih Terim

He has his signature on most of the successes in Turkish football history. The UEFA Cup triumph with Galatasaray and the semifinal with Turkey in EURO 2008 are a few of his achievements.

Best motivator in modern football, more than a manager. He is like a leader.

More than just a manager. A father, a marshal, and an emperor.
Diego Simeone

This list is a pure joke. He should be in the top 10, between legends such as Cruyff and Fergie. What Simeone is doing at Atletico is simply a miracle. I bet no other managers nowadays could do what he does for Atleti.
Vittorio Pozzo
Bela Guttmann