Having one of the the best managers in the world at the helm of your club is a certain guarantee to winning trophies. Clubs can have the best players around, but without the right heads to direct them, they will surely be chasing a lost cost.
Chelsea’s ex-rookie manager, Frank Lampard, hammered that into the heads of football fans worldwide when he couldn’t lead a squad revamped by over €200 million in one window. On the other hand, Jose Mourinho showed the tactical nous of a good manager when he led underdogs, Porto, to Champions League glory in 2004.
Another legendary gaffer, referred to as one of the best managers in the world is Marcelo Bielsa. The Argentine famously led Leeds United back to the top flight in 2020 within two years of taking the reigns, following a 16-year absence.
So with this pertinence ascertained, here is the updated list of the best managers in the world 2021.
Best Managers In the World 2021
10. Carlo Ancelotti
Nationality: Italian
Current Club: Everton
Everton are one of the most ambitious clubs in England, who have regularly displayed their desperation to break into the league’s big six or form a spin-off seven. In expressing their ambition, they signed much-maligned Hale academy graduate, Alex Iwobi, as a marquee signing in 2019.
Despite this, they have been perceived as pretenders until Carlo Ancelotti agreed to take the reigns of the blue half of Merseyside. As expected, the progress has not been instantaneous , but has been largely significant.
This improvement was epitomised by their cleansheet win over fierce neighborhood rivals, Liverpool, a first since 1999. Carlo is the second oldest on this list of the best managers in the world.
9. Thomas Tuchel
Nationality: German
Current Club: Chelsea
The French Ligue 1 might the most one-sided league in Europe, but Mauricio Pochettino’s struggles at Paris Saint-Germain has corrected that it is still no cakewalk.
Tuchel is one of the finest tactician in the game, with his ex-players ascertaining that he has one of the most stringent training exercises, despite the size of the club. Now at Chelsea, he has succeeded in fixing a broken and leaky defense with just the snap of his fingers.
In 2020, he directed PSG to their first ever Champions League final, but lost to high-flying Bayern.
8. Zinedine Zidane
Nationality: French
Current Club: Real Madrid
Prior to his emergence, no club had ever won the revamped Champions League in consecutive campaigns. Well that record stood only long enough until Zidane landed in the Spanish capital. He not only set his own record, but extended it to three on the bounce. When he finally decided to look away from the flagship competition, his eyes became fixated on the league, subsequently winning the domestic title in 2020.
Despite being under 50, he is indisputable one of the best managers in the world.
7. Didier Deschamps
Nationality: French
Current Club: France
Getting to the top is one thing, remaining there via regular consistent results is another. When France won the World Cup in 2018, they had reached an acme and had to begin a new cycle. In keeping up with the new achievements, Les Blues have shouldered the subsequent responsibilities with enviable aplomb.
They have lost just two competitive games since the Finales, succeeding in blooding in the new generation youngsters with the more established guns. All this is down to one of the best managers in the world, Deschamps.
6. Jose Mourinho
Nationality: Portuguese
Current Club: Tottenham
Jose Mourinho has profusely tried in recent times to reiterate reasons why he was nicknamed the ‘Special One’, but in realistic truth, the former Chelsea, Madrid and Inter boss is living on past glory.
However, it is pertinent to note that 2021 marks only his first full season with Spurs and he still has ample time to deliver the ultimate goal, a long overdue trophy. His course has not been aided, in that he is the favourite scape goat of the British media.
5. Antonio Conte
Nationality: Italian
Current Club: Inter Milan
Juventus have dominated football in Italy for the past decade, even when they have been mediocre. But they had to work their socks off in 2019 to earn the championship, as Antonio Conte announced his presence. Juventus were pushed to the wire, forced to win the title on the last day of the season, tipping Conte’s Inter by just a single point.
In his second year, and the Nerazzurri are cruising, comfortably, to a first Scudetto in over a decade.
4. Marcelo Bielsa
Nationality: Argentine
Current Club: Leeds United
Freshly promoted clubs surviving in the English top-flight is as difficult as expecting hatchlings to survive in the wild. Leeds have however rubbished this beliefs, combining some very brave football with even braver results.
Their progressive style of play has reaped dividends, as they are not only safe from relegation but are actual contenders for European football. All of this accolades can be only bestowed at the feet of one man, his name: Marcelo Bielsa. The Argentine’s brilliance has been lauded to high heavens by ex-Tottenham, Mauricio Pochettino, and City boss, Pep Guardiola.
His meticulousness is unrivalled in the game, as he is said to measure every blade of grass in preparation for game days. The 65-year-old is one of the greatest tactician of all time and the oldest on this list.
3. Hans-Dieter Flick
Nationality: German
Current Club: Bayern Munich
Pep Guardiola came, the great Carlo Ancelotti also arrived and left. But Bayern Munich could only boast domestic dominance in their decade of big spending and local giant status.
Enter Hansi Flick, who made over 150 professional career appearances, but never turned out for the German national team. Flick had also never managed even a second tier side, with a position as assistance, his closest proximity to top-level football management.
After the termination of Niko Kovac’s managerial career, Flick was thrown into the hot seat in the unanimous expectation of getting severely singed.
However, the 56-year-old Heidelberg-born unknown has not just survived the scalding flames, but came out unscathed with gleaming clothing. In his first season as manager of a top club, Flick won the glorious continental treble. In the process, he repeated a feat that had only been achieved once in the club’s illustrious history.
He wasn’t done though, as he added a UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup to give them their first ever sextuple. That year Flick was awarded German Football Manager of the Year by magazine, Kicker and the UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year. We might just be witnessing the late bloom and emergence of one of the best managers in the world.
2. Jurgen Klopp
Nationality: German
Current Club: Liverpool
How do you describe a manager that won a club their first ever league title: World Class. And that is what Jurgen Klopp is. Although maintaining the German dominance on this list, Klopp just falls short of the winner’s crown. The 53-year-old might not be a tactical wunderkind, but he is surely the best man-manager in the world.
Popular for dishing out hugs and fist bumps like Santa Claus, Klopp is one of the most motivating managers to work with. Astute at dealing with the media and press, Klopp has channeled this ability into success.
The German certified his status as one of the best managers in the world by winning 4 MAJOR titles between 2019 and 2020, consisting the continental treble.
Although Liverpool have dominated English football at some point in the past under several managers, Jurgen has been billed as the club’s greatest coach of all time.
1. Pep Guardiola
Nationality: Spanish
Current Club: Manchester City
Although the Premier League is renowned as the most competitive league in the world, Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens have monopolized and dominated it in the past few years. They have won two of the last 3 championships, with every passing matchweek becoming likely that they add a third to their cabinet in 2021.
But is it really the brilliance of their manager or ability of the players? Well the statistics speak for itself as 50% of their title wins have come under the bald genius.
The manager has so rejigged his side that five different players scored 10+ goals in 2019/20, the first time in Premier League history.
Best Managers in the World 2021 Recap
Here is a simplified list of the best managers in the world for 2021.
10. Carlo Ancelotti
9. Thomas Tuchel
8. Zinedine Zidane
7. Didier Deschamps
6. Jose Mourinho
5. Antonio Conte
4. Marcelo Bielsa
3. Hans-Dieter Flick
2. Jurgen Klopp
1. Pep Guardiola
