A lot of young, dashing football coaches with modern styles and attitudes towards coaching arrive to make their mark in football every year, however, not all of them are successful. In an age where success is only defined by trophies, the job of a manager is one of the toughest in the world. However, the world does have some of the brightest managers around at present and as such, picking the top five among them is no small task, but these five are the best around right now.

Note: Zinedine Zidane, Antonio Conte and similar managers currently not associated with any teams were not considered.

Honorary Mentions: Maurizio Sarri, Unai Emery, Leonardo Jardim, Mircea Lucescu, Jurgen Klopp.

#5 Ernesto Valverde

The former Spanish forward started his managerial career as an assistant at Atletic Bilbao in the 2001/02 season. He then moved on to take over the Atletic Bilbao B team next season and from June 2003 was in charge of Atletico Madrid but could not find success. After a year-long sabbatical, Valverde joined Espanyol in May 2006, yet in the two years he was there, the closest he came to trophies was when Espanyol ended as the UEFA Cup runners-up in the 2006/07 season. It was only after joining Olympiacos that Valverde won his first trophy as a manager. His three years at the Greek club was one of the finest of his managerial career, where he won three Superleague Greece titles and two Greek Football Cups.

After leaving Olympiacos at the end of the 2011/12 season, Valverde joined Valencia in December 2012, where again, he was not met with much success. He returned to Athletic Bilbao in June 2013 and his second stint was a lot more successful, as he was in charge of 213 games, winning 102 of them, and winning the Supercopa de Espana in 2015.

When Luis Enrique stepped down at Barcelona at the end of the 2016/17 season, Valverde was the surprise choice for the Nou Camp job. Yet the Spaniard repaid the trust put on him by the Catalans, winning the LaLiga and the Copa del Rey in his debut Season at the Nou Camp. Under him, Barcelona almost ended the season undefeated, only to be defeated in the penultimate game of the season away at Levante UD. But Valverde had already proved a lot of people wrong and had struck gold at Barcelona.

His Champions League run was the only sour point last season and as such Valverde will be desperate to do well in the premier European club Tournament. This season could see Barcelona reach newer heights under the guidance of Ernesto Valverde, who has managed 63 games for the Catalan side so far, winning 45 of them and losing just 5, boasting of a fabulous 71.43 win%.

#4 Massimiliano Allegri

Allegri is currently in charge of Juventus in the Serie A and last season, he won the Serie A Trophy and the Coppa Italia. He is the three-time Serie A Coach of the Year.

Massimiliano Allegri started his managerial career at Aglianese in July 2003 and has since managed 7 clubs, overseeing a total of 624 games, winning 330 of them, with a win percentage of 52.88%. He first tasted success with Sassuolo in the Serie C1, winning the title in the 2007/08 season. His next big break came in the year 2010 when he joined Milan and immediately guided them to the Serie A title. He followed it up with the Supercoppa Italia in 2011, but from there on, failed to find the consistency in his time at Milan. 2012/13 season saw no major trophies and Allegri was ultimately removed from his post in January 2014 following a run of bad results. While the world imagined that Allegri’s managerial career was on a downward side, the Italian had other ideas.

In the summer of 2014, Allegri joined Juventus as their new manager and has not looked back since. He has since managed 223 games for the Old Lady and won 159 of them, registering a win % of 71.3% during his time in the club! He led Juventus to four consecutive Serie A and Coppa Italia doubles, with an additional Supercoppa Italiana in the 2015/16 season. During his time, Juventus reached the finals of the Champions League twice in three years, but unfortunately, was on the losing side both times. With Ronaldo joining the ranks at Juventus this season, Allegri will be hoping that he finally breaks his Champions League jinx, but even without the fabled trophy, the Italian is one of the best managers in football right now.

#3 Diego Simeone

A tenacious, battle-hardened and multitalented midfielder during his playing career, Simeone took many facets of his game into his managerial style and instilled the same discipline in his players. He was a leader on the field and as a manager, he has an authoritarian style that has worked wonders for him so far.

Simeone started his managerial career at Racing club in February 2006 and over his managerial career has presided over 586 matches, winning 330 of them, with a win% of 56.31%. He has won a total of 9 trophies so far in his managerial career. However, his big break came at Atletico Madrid, where he joined in December 2011.

Barcelona and Real Madrid were dominating the LaLiga then. Valencia had been the only club other than those two who had last won the LaLiga, in the 2003/04 season. In his first season, Simeone managed to improve Atletico Madrid to a 5th place finish and also won the 2011/12 Europa League. Next season, he managed to do even better, guiding them to a third-place finish and taking them back to the champions league for the first time in 4 years, while winning the Copa del Rey. But the best was yet to come.

From Valencia’s win in 2003/04 season and up until the 2013/14 season, Barcelona had won the LaLiga 6 times, with Real Madrid winning the other 3 times. Yet in the 2013/14 season, Simeone managed to do something magical. He first oversaw a club record 8 straight victories in LaLiga, which included a gritty 1-0 win at Santiago Bernabeu. Needing a draw away at the Nou Camp in the last game of the season to win the title, Simeone’s Atletico Madrid got a hard-fought 1-1 draw and lifted the trophy, achieving a club record 90 points, for the first time since 1996, when, ironically, Simeone was a part of the title-winning team.

In the Champions League, Atletico defeated Milan in the round of 16, Barcelona in the quarterfinals, Chelsea in the semifinals, but was ultimately defeated in the final by Real Madrid. Even though it was a heartbreaking defeat, it did not matter; Simeone was already embedded in the Atletico Folklore.

Since then, Simeone has managed to finish within the top 3 consistently, while last season, Atletico ended the season above Real Madrid in second, while also winning the UEFA Europa League 2017/18. Simeone has managed 382 games for Atletico so far, winning 235 of them, with a 61.52 win%.

This season, Simeone won his second UEFA Super Cup after defeating Real Madrid 4-2 in a fabulous game. Even though Atletico Madrid have made a nervy start to the new season – they have won 1, lost 1 and drawn 1 so far – with Simeone at the helm, they cannot be ruled out of a title challenge any time soon.

#2 Pep Guardiola

Perhaps the greatest manager of this generation, Pep Guardiola started his managerial career with the fabulous Barcelona B side, who under his guidance, played fabulous football to win the Tercera Division in Guardiola’s managerial debut season, 2007/08. It meant that Pep was immediately promoted to take the reigns at the First Team next season and Barcelona reached eternal glory under his 4-year guidance, where they won everything in sight, gathered 14 Trophies and were one of the best football teams ever to play the beautiful game.

Pep moved on to Bayern Munich and even though he was successful in the league, European success eluded him at Germany, with a solitary UEFA Super Cup, the only European Trophy among the 7 trophies he won during his three years at Munich.

With a fresh challenge in mind, Guardiola took over at Manchester City in June 2016. He took a year to get his tactics right and transformed City into one of the best teams of Europe last season. Under his guidance, Manchester City won the Premier League last season, amassing a league record 100 points in total and also won the League Cup. However, European success still eluded him.

City has carried on from where they ended last season, winning the Community Shield and appearing just as menacing. A shock draw at Wolves should only be a small hiccup and Guardiola will certainly have his eyes on Europe this season. Quite interestingly, Guardiola in his career as a manager has managed 564 games, winning 406 of them, with an overall 72 win%. Fantastic, but still not enough to make him the best football manager right now because….

#1 Didier Deschamps

… Deschamps is a World Champion!

Didier Deschamps started his journey as a manager at Monaco, spending 4 seasons at the club. He won the Coupe de la Ligue in 2003 and took Monaco to the finals of the Champions League in the 2003/04 season, but ended the tournament as runners-up. He then took over at Juventus for a year, winning the Serie B. In 2009, he joined Marseille and was quite successful there, winning the Ligue 1 in his first year. He went on to win three Coupe de La Ligue and two Trophee des Champions.

In July 2012, Deschamps resigned from the Marseille job, to take over at France and the fairy tale was about to start. Even though France carved out a hard-earned qualification to the 2014 FIFA World Cup under his guidance, their participation in the tournament ended with a 1-0 defeat to eventual champions Germany in the quarterfinals. But Deschamps continued to strive and eventually led France to the finals of the 2016 European Championships, where they endured a heartbroken loss to Portugal.

When Deschamps left Karim Benzema out of the 23 man squad of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he received a lot of criticism. But Deschamp had opted for a careful set of players for his master plan. The depth of his plan can be understood when we acknowledge that Benzema’s substitute Giroud ended the tournament without scoring but as a World Champion. Deschamps had utilized his squad efficiently, u his players to their full potential and making them a team of eleven talented players, who worked together and won together.

With his name already among only the three persons in the world to have won the most prestigious tournament in football both as a player and as a coach, the Frenchman is the front-runner to win the FIFA’s Best Coach of the season this month. But Deschamps will have his eyes set on the Euros 2020 and with a talented French team to back him up, few would bet against him.

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