The best football managers out of work
- There are some top managers who are free agents
- Plenty of Champions League-winning coaches are currently without clubs
- How many will be snapped up as the 2024/25 season progresses?
Being a football manager can be bruising for one's ego.
When results are good and confidence high, it's the best job on the face of the earth. But things can turn ugly pretty swiftly and the coach is the first to be turfed out when performances start to go awry.
That's a reality even some of the world's best managers have to accept, with a number of elite coaches currently out of work for a myriad of reasons. Whether it's outdated tactics, public outbursts or just bad luck, getting back on the ladder isn't always straightforward.
With that in mind, here are the 20 best managers currently out of work.
20. Daniele De Rossi
Roma sought respite in the wake of Jose Mourinho's exit, and there was only one way the club were going to appease a fanbase that weren't exactly thrilled to see the back of the 'special one'.
De Rossi's arrival inspired a considerable resurgence down the backend of 2023/24, but a slow start to the new campaign saw the one-club man rather shockingly receive his marching orders.
19. Lucien Favre
Lucien Favre has been a very hit-and-miss figure on the touchline during his career. He achieved great things with Borussia Monchengladbach and during his first spell at Nice, but struggled to live up to expectations after his move to Borussia Dortmund.
A return to Nice was ultimately unsuccessful and lasted just half a season, with Favre having now been out of work since January 2023. However, he still has plenty to offer the right club.
18. Urs Fischer
What Urs Fischer achieved with Union Berlin was truly incredible. He took the German side to the Bundesliga for the first time in their history, subsequently qualifying them for the Champions League ahead of the 2022/23 season after some steady progress in the top flight.
Unfortunately for the iconic Union Berlin coach, a run of poor results at the beginning of the 2023/24 campaign saw him removed from his position, with the club narrowly avoiding relegation back to the second division after his departure.
17. Kasper Hjulmand
Kasper Hjulmand left his post after Euro 2024 having guided Denmark through their most prosperous period of the 21st century.
Denmark re-emerged as a top-ten nation in FIFA's world ranking for the first time in a decade under Hjumand's watch, with the Scandi outfit enjoying their best European Championship campaign since their shock success of '92 at Euro 2020, where they reached the semi-finals.
Hjulmand's Denmark were typically superb without the ball and efficient with it, and there's no doubt he will soon be back on the touchlines. He has experience at club-level in his homeland, as well as Germany.
16. Rafa Benitez
Not too many active football managers have as much experience and pedigree as Rafa Benitez, who guided Liverpool to the Champions League in 2005. He has since managed the likes of Chelsea, Real Madrid and Napoli.
After becoming a much-loved figure at Newcastle United, the Spaniard's career has taken a hit since his Tyneside departure. A brief stint in China was followed by unsuccessful spells at Everton and Celta Vigo, with Benitez's tactics no longer as successful as they once were.
15. Roger Schmidt
The vastly experienced German coach is once again on the market after receiving his marching orders from Benfica at the start of the 2024/25 season.
Roger Schmidt's sides are typically enthralling, and his Benfica team were often unmissable, especially at the start of their league-winning 2022/23 season.
The German has taken his talents across the globe, so who knows where he next ends up.
14. Niko Kovac
Having done a stellar job with Eintracht Frankfurt between 2016 and 2018, Niko Kovac was offered the increasingly unenviable Bayern Munich job. Despite winning a league and cup double in 2018/19, the Croatian left the club several months into the following season.
After middling spells at Monaco and Wolfsburg, Kovac is available once again and was even briefly linked with the Liverpool job prior to Arne Slot's appointment. He will likely have to settle for a post much further down the ladder.
13. Gareth Southgate
Gareth Southgate restored a feel-good factor to the England national team that had long been absent. Initially inspiring players and supporters alike, the former Middlesbrough coach left his post after Euro 2024 as one of the country's most successful managers.
It wasn't all positivity for Southgate, though. Two European Championship final defeats proved tough to take and he was often maligned by English media and fans for his negative tactical set-up.
After eight years in the Wembley dugout, it will be interesting to see where Southgate ends up next.
12. Joachim Low
Joachim Low spent 15 years as head coach of the German national team, achieving incredible things with them. He famously won the World Cup in 2014 and reached the Euro 2008 final six years earlier.
However, whether his managerial skills can transfer back to club football remains unknown for now. He's been out of work since 2021 and hasn't taken charge of a club team since 2004.
11. David Moyes
Having achieved great things with Everton before a short and unsuccessful spell with Man Utd, the experienced Scot made the move to West Ham in 2017, returning in 2019 having been sacked during his first stint.
Despite not always being a supremely popular figure with West Ham fans, the Irons did produce one of their most famous moments on his watch when lifting the Europa Conference League in 2022/23.
Expect David Moyes to get a few calls from teams in need as the 2024/25 season progresses.
10. Edin Terzic
The lifelong Borussia Dortmund fan will be remembered fondly at Signal Iduna Park, but Terzic was another nearly-man in the home dugout.
His Dortmund team collapsed on the final day of the 2022/23 Bundesliga season to miss out on the title, and were beaten finalists in the 2024 Champions League.
Terzic's team did arguably compete beyond their means, and the manager has shown a propensity to adapt and tinker with his generally progressive principles in order to achieve results.
9. Graham Potter
Despite Graham Potter succumbing to the curse of the Chelsea job, he remains extremely well respected for his work with Brighton (and Ostersunds!). The Englishman's tactical nous and attention to detail transformed the Seagulls into one of the league's most fun, albeit inconsistent, sides.
Reports suggest he has had plenty of European offers since leaving Stamford Bridge, but he won't have to do too much to rebuild his reputation.
8. Erik ten Hag
Erik ten Hag has an unusually thick skin, with relentless criticism of his performances at Manchester United seemingly never denting his self-belief.
However, Ten Hag was finally dismissed as Red Devils boss at the beginning of the 2024/25 campaign and he can have few complaints about his newly-acquired status as a free agent.
The former Ajax coach won the Carabao Cup and FA Cup at Man Utd but failed to keep the good times rolling at Old Trafford. It remains to be seen who will be next to gamble on the gruff Dutchman.
7. Maurizio Sarri
The grumbly, tobacco-chewing Italian was adored at Napoli but found life much harder at Chelsea and Juventus despite winning trophies with both clubs.
Maurizio Sarri was appointed Lazio boss in 2021 but resigned in March 2024 amid some questionable form. A man of his experience won't be out of work for too much longer.
6. Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini has impressive pedigree following an illustrious managerial career, winning silverware with Inter, Fiorentina, Manchester City and most recently Italy.
The silver-haired Italian guided the Azzurri to a memorable Euro 2020 title against the odds, cementing his spot in international folklore as a result.
A surprise departure from the Italy job left him free for work and he took his talents to the Middle East when coaching Saudi Arabia. A disappointing spell with the 2034 FIFA World Cup hosts means he's a free agent once more.
5. Sergio Conceicao
A journeyman during his playing days, Sergio Conceicao settled on the sidelines at Porto, for whom he made his senior debut back in 1993, and spent seven years at the Dragao before moving on at the end of the 2023/24 season.
A 4-4-2 man who encouraged a few dark arts to outmanoeuvre seemingly superior opposition, Conceicao's Porto were often a nightmare to face in Europe. His teams were almost always superbly drilled, and he enjoyed immense domestic success during his seven-year reign, guiding the club to 11 major honours.
4. Xavi Hernandez
Xavi was perhaps not the idealist we expected him to be, although his pragmatism did help Barcelona to a prosperous 2022/23 campaign in which they regained their La Liga crown.
The club's former midfielder was poised to lead the club through an exciting new dawn despite a litany of off-the-pitch concerns, but Xavi was eventually consumed by Barca's infamous 'entorno' and his final season in Catalonia was pretty chaotic.
While a good manager, some will question whether he can be elite.
3. Massimiliano Allegri
Despite a fiery end to his second reign as Juventus manager, Massimiliano Allegri has achieved great things with the Turin giants. However, his methods have not always been aesthetically pleasing, something that may go against him as he searches for new employment.
Allegri won five Serie A titles and four Coppa Italias over a total of eight years with Juventus, while also winning a scudetto with Milan back in 2011.
2. Zinedine Zidane
Zinedine Zidane has been out of work for some time but it's unclear whether he's on the market. There can be no doubting that clubs and national teams will have approached the icon, yet he hasn't graced the touchline since his Real Madrid stint.
The Frenchman left the Bernabeu for good in 2021 after returning to the capital shortly after his initial departure in 2018. While in Madrid, he won plenty of silverware, although there were always question marks over whether it was his managerial talents or the star-studded Los Blancos squad that facilitated the club's continental and domestic success.
Supposedly holding out for the France job, it will be interesting to see Zidane's next step in management.
1. Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp was previously omitted from this list due to his declaration that he would take a year-long sabbatical from the game, but the German's appointment as the Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull suggests that he may already be getting bored.
Klopp's decision to team up with Red Bull has not gone down well with those in Germany but there can be no question marks regarding the former Liverpool manager's position as one of the world's greatest coaches.
He's technically not out of work but he remains the best manager currently out of management, earning him top spot here.
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