Ranking the best football managers of all time is a tough task, as the criteria for doing so can vary for different football lovers. Do you rank purely based on the number of results and titles the manager’s teams accrued during his career? Do you rank on style? What about innovation and impact? Plus, you also have to consider the quality of the footballers that were at the manager’s disposal.
Despite these subjective waters, we have attempted to rank 5 of the best football managers of all time by combining all these factors together.
Here is our list of the 5 best football managers of all time:
- Johan Cruyff
The Dutch Cruyff isn’t merely considered to be one of the greatest managers of all time, but one of the most influential people in football. Cruyff found success as a player, coach, pioneer and general figurehead.
Cruyff mentored several Dutch legends in the 1980s while managing Ajax and proceeded to manage a Barcelona team that dominated Spanish football and won the European Cup in 1992. This side was known as the “dream team” and was a perfect blend of home-grown talent and world-class stars.
Perhaps his greatest strategy as a manager though is his reputation as a visionary who believed I the value of implementing a single way of playing at every level of a club, and his insistence that Barcelona launch the La Masia academy.
- Sir Matt Busby
Scot Matt Busby is widely considered to be the second most famous manager of Manchester United (behind a later pick on this list who also happens to be Scottish). Busby was at the helm of United for over 2 decades, managing the team from 1945 to 1969, and then again in the second half of the 1970/1971 season. Busby’s tenure was marked by the tragic Munich air disaster on 6 February 1958, as 8 promising United players, nicknamed “Busby’s Babes”, perished in the plane crash.
Despite this tragedy, Busby built title-winning teams before and after the Munich air disaster, and ultimately led United to their first European Cup triumph in 1968. His ability to rebuild after such a tragedy highlighted his immense prowess and resolve as a manager, and Busby was awarded a CBE and knighted in 1968, sealing his legacy as one of football's greatest managers.
- Jose Mourinho
When the British media unironically give you the nickname “The Special One”, you know that you have made your mark as a football manager. Portugal’s Jose Mourinho has earned this moniker by winning league titles in 4 different countries.
After humble beginnings working as an interpreter for the legendary Sir Bobby Robson Sporting CP and Porto, Mourinho began his own managerial career and helped Porto to win two Champions League titles. He then made an even greater impact at Chelsea, helping them to win 2 Premier League titles, an FA Cup and 2 League Cups in his 3 seasons at the club.
He then performed even better as a manager at Inter Milan, Leading the Italian club to 2 Serie A titles including a European treble of Serie A, the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League in 2010 (which was a first for an Italian club). This achievement meant that he was one of only five coaches to have won the European Cup with two clubs. Mourinho then won another league title and League Cup in 2013 in his second stint at Chelsea, before helping Manchester United win the UEFA Europa League, League Cup and FA Community Shield in his first season with the renewed club.
With this kind of record, it's no wonder that Mourinho earned his nickname and is considered one of the greatest managers of all time.
- Pep Guardiola
While a feared and respected player with Cruyff’s “dream team”, Spain’s Pep Guardiola’s exploits as a football manager have far exceeded anything he accomplished during his playing days. In his first season as a Barcelona manager, he led the team to the continental treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League (becoming the youngest manager to win the latter competition). By 2011, he had already been named the FIFA World Coach of the Year i1 after Barcelona to another La Liga and Champions League double in the 2010–11 season.
Guardiola then joined Bayern Munich in 2013 and won the Bundesliga in each of the 3 seasons he managed the side, including two domestic doubles. After joining Manchester City in 2016, Guardiola’s managerial achievements have entered the stratosphere. He guided City to the Premier League title in his second season in charge, breaking numerous domestic records in the process, as City became the first team to attain 100 points in a single season.
Success for Guardiola only increased from that point, leading City to a domestic treble in 2018–19, their first Champions League final in 2020–21, and their first Champions League title in 2002/20223 as part of another continental treble.
- Sir Alex Ferguson
Manchester United’s record of being the most successful team in the English Premier League (EPL) with 13 titles can largely be attributed to one man: Sir Alex Ferguson.
The Scot managed United from 1986 to 2013 and was intrinsic to United’s success, helping the side to become the most valuable football brand in the world. Ferguson is thus widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, having won more trophies than any other manager in the history of football.
A true mark of Ferguson’s greatness is that when he took over United in November 1986, the team was a shadow of its glory days, and many saw it as a middling, underperforming team. Success did not come straight away, as Ferguson slowly built up an imposing squad that dominated the 1990s and 2000s thanks to shrewd strategy, prudent player buys, academy development and financial backing.
When Ferguson finally retired in 2013, (having won the EPL in his last season as manager), United had won an astonishing 38 trophies under his stewardship, including 13 Premier League titles, 5 FA Cups, and 2 UEFA Champions League titles. It’s unlikely that any football manager anywhere will ever repeat this incredible record.