UEFA gives out a Men's Coach of the Year award. It literally goes to the Champions League winner every season -- even in 2021, when Chelsea's Thomas Tuchel won it despite having been fired by another team (PSG) midway through the season. That's super boring. Who really coached better in a given season: the guy who led a team with a kajillion-Euro payroll through a few Champions League knockout rounds, or the guy who took a team with the lowest payroll in a given league to a midtable finish?
Even if "a good manager makes a team 10% better, and a bad manager makes it 30% worse," let's take a moment to celebrate the guys who coached their butts off this season, be it for good teams that turned great, relegation-threatened teams that survived, clubs that saw unforeseen promotions or, yes, teams that might be about to win the Champions League.
Here are my picks for the 20 best coaching performances of 2024-25 in European men's football.
1. Nuno Espirito Santo, Nottingham Forest
Nuno Espirito Santo resigned from Valencia in 2015. He was fired by Porto in 2017, left Wolves via mutual consent in 2021 and was fired by Tottenham Hotspur in 2021 and by Al-Ittihad in 2023. That's a negativity-based departure every two seasons over the entire past decade. He has seen success, too, but he has quite the mixed résumé.
He has also pulled off something remarkable in 2024-25, and Santo is proof that if a manager has the tools he's looking for, he can do some fantastic things.
At Forest, the counterattacking Espirito Santo has found sturdy defenders (Murillo, Nikola Milenkovic) and a fun set of speedy and creative attackers (Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga and Callum Hudson-Odoi), along with a good old center-of-gravity forward (Chris Wood), and, after finishing 16th and 17th in the Premier League the last two seasons, Forest entered April in third place.
Were they rather statistically fortunate to be that high? Yes. Have they stumbled in the weeks since? Yes. But they have clinched a top-seven finish and, therefore, a spot in European competitions in 2025-26, and they're still only one point outside the top five. For a team that was one point above the relegation zone when Espirito Santo was hired midway through 2023-24, that is an utterly remarkable performance.
2. Luis Enrique, Paris Saint-Germain
In his first season as PSG's manager, Enrique won the domestic treble and barely missed out on a spot in the Champions League final. Technically he has set himself up to only slightly one-up himself in Year 2: they've won two domestic trophies; they're in the Coupe de France final; and they got the bounces they needed this time in the Champions League semifinals. They'll play Reims for Trophy No. 3 on May 24, then they'll meet Inter Milan for the big one on May 31.
"They're about as good as last year, but more fortunate" isn't much of an endorsement for the second-best coaching performance of the season, is it? But that's leaving out some key context. They improved despite losing maybe the best player in the world (Kylian Mbappé), and they've gotten so much better since the start of the season.
Enrique gave youngsters such as Désiré Doué (19), Warren Zaïre-Emery (19), João Neves (20) and Bradley Barcola (22) immense amounts of responsibility, and it produced some fits and starts, but from about mid-December on, they've been the best team in the world. They're fast and relentless, in and out of possession, and they could be 90 minutes from finally securing the Champions League crown.
3. Claudio Ranieri, AS Roma
When 73-year-old Ranieri began his third stint at Roma on Nov. 14, the club was in the middle of an utterly disastrous season. Roma had already fired two coaches -- Daniele De Rossi made it to only Sept. 18, and Ivan Juric was also gone within two months -- and they had won only four of their first 16 matches in all competitions. Even for a relatively dramatic club, this was impressive.
If the season had begun the day Ranieri showed up, Roma would be two points out of the title race.
Serie A points since Nov. 14:
1. Inter Milan, 52
2. Napoli, 52
3. Roma, 50
4. Atalanta, 46
5. Bologna, 44
After a completely listless start, they are now within one point of a Champions League berth. They actually had a chance to move into the top four on Monday but fell 2-1 to Atalanta; it was only their second loss since early February. Ranieri has rejuvenated Roma the Ranieri way -- they allow no high-quality shots, and they take maximum advantage of their scoring opportunities. Moussa Koné has been brilliant as a do-everything midfielder under Ranieri's guidance, and Artem Dovbyk has finally discovered a bit of his scoring touch after a slow start.
It seemed as if Ranieri's finale would be getting Cagliari promoted in 2023 and then saving them from relegation in 2024. Instead, he decided to pull off one more magic act.
4. Liam Rosenior, Strasbourg
BlueCo's flagship club, Chelsea, continues to struggle for traction in its third season since its new owners took over. But another BlueCo club, from the furthest eastern reaches of France, has found something special under the guidance of Rosenior, the 40-year-old former Hull City star and manager.
Strasbourg won only three of their first 14 league matches this season and looked bound for a third straight season in the bottom half of the Ligue 1 table. But since a Dec. 15 win over Le Havre, they've averaged 2.26 points per game in league play, worse than only PSG. They're tied in points for fourth place in the league and head into the final matchday with a shot at their first Champions League/European Cup bid since falling to Ajax in the 1979-80 quarterfinals.
Strasbourg can counterattack or play decent possession ball, and Rosenior has made great use of duel-winning midfielders such as Andrey Santos and Dilane Bakwa. It's a great story.
5. Hansi Flick, Barcelona
Turn the tables on (and sweep) Real Madrid? Check.
Win three trophies? Check.
Play the most watchable ball in the world? Check.
If not for a devastating late loss to Inter Milan in the Champions League semifinals, this would have been a nearly perfect Barcelona season, and Flick, hired only after a particularly odd saga from a club dedicated to particularly odd sagas, turned out to be the perfect person to reinvigorate players such as Raphinha and Frenkie de Jong and oversee some utterly delightful ball.
6. Arne Slot, Liverpool
PSG lost an incredible player and got better. Liverpool lost an incredible coach and did the same. Through a perfect combination of dialed-back aggression, new roles for breakout stars, fallen rivals and perhaps a bit of good fortune in the injuries department, Slot drove Liverpool's second Premier League title run with relative ease.
Each season presents its own navigational issues, and we'll see how Slot battles title hangovers and, potentially, quite a bit of offseason turnover. But even with some second-half slippage -- they've lost eight matches in all competitions, one in their first 28 contests and seven in their past 26 -- Slot aced test No. 1 at Anfield.
7. Antonio Conte, Napoli
They handed one of the sport's best forwards (Victor Osimhen) to Galatasaray on loan, and they lost Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to PSG in January. But since when does Antonio Conte need scoring?
Conte's Napoli have allowed five fewer goals than anyone else, and they've won seven 1-0 games and four 2-0s. He has coaxed a career year from Scott McTominay -- the club paid Manchester United €30.5 million in transfer fees for him, and he's making it look like a discount. With two games left, they hold a one-point lead over Inter Milan. Their Scudetto fate is in their own hands.
Pretty good for a team that finished 10th in Serie A last year with Osimhen and Kvaratskhelia.
8. Andoni Iraola, Bournemouth
Yes, injuries finally caught up to them and the last couple of months haven't been all that fun. After losing only five of their first 23 league matches, they've lost six of their past 13. But Bournemouth, with its 11,000-seat stadium, an all-time, top-division finish of ninth and a roster value (per Transfermarkt) closer to that of second-division Burnley than to Manchester United or Tottenham, stayed in the race for a European place well into the spring, and, well, they're going to finish well ahead of United or Spurs.
Iraola's Bournemouth combine sturdy, high-effort defense with the most relentless counterattacks in the Premier League. And even during their spring fade, they still recently ripped off a five-game unbeaten streak and a win over Arsenal.
9. Cesc Fabregas, Como
Como seemed like a novelty at first. For their first season back in Serie A in more than 20 years, they hired Fabregas, the former Arsenal, Barcelona, Chelsea and Monaco star, as manager, then brought in veteran players such as Pepe Reina, Sergi Roberto, Raphaël Varane and Andrea Belotti. Their early form screamed "novelty act" as well -- they were in the relegation zone into mid-December.
Since mid-February, however, only Ranieri's Roma have generated more points in league play. They handed Napoli their only league loss of 2025. And better yet, they've surged not because of the aforementioned veterans (who have barely played) but because of thrilling youngsters such as Nico Paz (20), Assane Diao (19), Lucas Da Cunha (23) and Máximo Perrone (22).
Fabregas has done a fabulous job, and if the core stays together -- something that doesn't tend to happen in this capitalist universe -- one could see a Europe-worthy team taking shape soon.
10. Thomas Frank, Brentford
We're starting to take Brentford for granted, and that's an incredible thing to say about Frank. The Bees spent 74 years out of the English first division, and now they not only have easily survived for four years despite what is still a relatively limited budget but also are steering toward a second top-10 finish in three seasons. They're finishing strong, too, riding a six-game unbeaten streak into the final two matches. They're just as Brentford as ever, dominating on set pieces, generating more high-quality shots than most and creating almost none.
This is a uniquely well-run club, and it has benefited from having a uniquely solid and creative manager leading the way.
11. Alexander Blessin, St. Pauli
After earning Bundesliga promotion for the first time in 14 years, St. Pauli lost manager Fabian Hurzeler to Brighton, then lost by far their best goal contributor (Marcel Hartel) to Major League Soccer's St. Louis City. Hartel's primary replacement, Morgan Guilavogui, scored one league goal in the first three months of the season, and St. Pauli themselves scored in only four of their first 11 matches. They somehow didn't score at home until Nov. 29.
Despite this, guess who's actually staying up in the Bundesliga for the first time since 1996? St. Pauli!
In a seemingly impossible situation, Blessin navigated through the season with dynamite defense (only Bayern have allowed fewer Bundesliga goals), and the famed anti-fascist club slowly pulled its way to safety. Technically St. Pauli aren't completely safe yet -- if they lose on Saturday, and Heidenheim both win and somehow make up a 13-goal difference in goal differential, St. Pauli would land in the relegation playoff -- but the odds of that ... aren't great. Prepare for another season of "Hells Bells" playing in the top division.
12. David Moyes, Everton
It felt like the least creative idea imaginable: Having fired Sean Dyche, only one point above the relegation zone, Everton looked around the managerial landscape and hired ... the guy who coached them really well more than a decade ago.
The 62-year old Moyes was available after having departed West Ham last May, and he took over a team in desperate need of results. Easy peasy. After a 1-0 loss to Aston Villa in Moyes' first game, Everton lost only one of their next 12 league fixtures. Granted, they've had seven draws in his 17 matches, but they're now 20 points outside the relegation zone, and with two matches left they're ahead of Manchester United, Spurs and West Ham, Moyes' former employer.
The defense-and-counters thing still has value.
13. Niko Kovac, Borussia Dortmund
Like Nuno Espirito Santo and others here, Kovac has been fired a lot in his career. But like Ranieri and Moyes, he's turned out to be the perfect fire-fighter at the perfect time.
When he was hired on Feb. 2, BVB were a dire 11th in the table, having just bailed on first-year coach Nuri Sahin. They had lost three in a row to start the second half of the season; vibes: awful.
A series of unfortunate early results under Kovac -- four early losses in which they attempted shots worth a combined 8.2 xG but scored zero goals -- seemed to seal their fate, but their underlying stats were strong, and as I wrote in mid-April, I thought they had a chance to win their last five matches and still steal a top-four finish. Four wins later, they're on the brink of just that.
Bundesliga No. 3-5 heading into the final matchday:
3. Eintracht Frankfurt (57 points, +20 goal differential)
4. Freiburg (55 points, -2)
5. Borussia Dortmund (54 points, +17)
If either a) BVB beat Holstein Kiel and Eintracht Frankfurt beat Freiburg, or b) BVB and Freiburg win by at least three combined goals, Dortmund will somehow end up back in the top four. Things could still fall apart -- it wouldn't be the first time Dortmund needed a result on the final day and didn't get it -- but Kovac has performed beautifully to get them to this point.
14. Manuel Pellegrini, Real Betis
It's been a streaky season for Real Betis: From October through January, they enjoyed a seven-game unbeaten streak, then a three-game losing streak, then a seven-game unbeaten streak, then a three-game losing streak. But since adding two attacking pieces in the January window -- Manchester United's Antony (loan) and Columbus' Cucho Hernández (transfer) -- Pellegrini has pulled all the right strings. Betis have lost only once in two-and-a-half months, they momentarily threatened to charge all the way back from 12th to snag a Champions League spot, and they've reached their first ever European final, a May 28 date with Chelsea in the Conference League.
Antony (eight goals and five assists in 22 games in all competitions) has received a lot of the credit for this surge, but he probably didn't re-discover his 2021-22 form all by himself.
15. Francesco Jarioli, Ajax
If I'd written this two weeks ago, Jarioli would have been in the top 10. Despite still plodding their way through a rebuild that produced a fifth-place Eredivisie finish in 2023-24, Farioli's Ajax used defense -- a sometimes-rare substance at the club -- to go on a spectacular surge in league play. They lost only once between Aug. 18 and April 20 and took a seemingly insurmountable lead in the table. But they've since taken only two points from their last four matches, and with five straight wins, somehow PSV Eindhoven have overtaken them and lead by a point heading into the final matchday.
The title fight isn't over yet, but even if Ajax fall just short, it has still been a year of stellar improvement, and Ajax will still return to the Champions League next season.
For the last five names on this list, we'll dip down below the first divisions of the sport. It's hard to avoid giving "Honorable Mention" status to every single coach who coordinated a promotion effort, but here are five coaches who performed at a particularly exceptional level, starting with a man who has overseen maybe the most unlikely rise in the sport.
16. Horst Steffen, SV 07 Elversburg
From a municipality of just 13,000 people, Elversberg were in the fourth tier as late as 2022, but they won the third-division title in 2022-23, held their own in their first ever second-division campaign in 2023-24, and now, heading into the final matchday, they are third in the 2. Bundesliga. A Sunday win over Schalke would clinch a spot in at least the promotion playoff (likely against Heidenheim), and a win combined with a Koln loss would get them promoted.
Pound for pound, Steffen might be the best manager in Germany right now.
17. Filippo Inzaghi, Pisa
While his younger brother, Simone, has led Inter to the Champions League final -- and probably deserved a spot on this list as well -- Pippo Inzaghi has been a bit more of a managerial journeyman. He couldn't save Salernitana from relegation last season, but he has aced his latest test. Pisa haven't played in Serie A since 1990-91 and had to be re-founded in 2009 after major financial troubles. But they slowly re-established themselves as a second-tier club, and Inzaghi engineered a 30-point improvement in his first season in charge, comfortably earning promotion.
18. Regis Le Bris, Sunderland
That Leeds and Burnley earned the two automatic promotion spots in the English Championship makes sense -- after all, recently relegated clubs, with their parachute payments, have been vacuuming up a lot of promotion spots in recent years.
But Sunderland have been on quite the journey since their last Premier League season (2016-17), spending four seasons in the third division before crawling back up the ladder. After a 16th-place finish last season, they didn't seem like major promotion candidates. But under Le Bris, the former Lorient coach, they improved by 20 points despite a late fade, and with a dramatic playoff semifinal win over Coventry City, they're now one game from a spot back in the Premier League.
They're underdogs against Sheffield United, but they weren't supposed to get this close in the first place.
19. Luis Castro, Dunkerque
USL Dunkerque have existed for over 100 years and have never played in the French top division. They might next season. After yo-yoing between the second and third divisions for years, they appointed the 45-year old Castro, a former Benfica U23s coach, in 2023. In his second season, they upset two Champions League teams (Lille and Brest) to reach the Coupe de France semifinals, then reached the promotion playoff final -- they'll face Metz on Saturday for a spot in Ligue 1.
20. Stephan Gilli, Paris FC
Paris finally has a second Ligue 1 team again. After a more than 40-year absence, Paris FC finally got over the hump in Gilli's second season in charge. Thanks in part to inspired additions Jean-Philippe Krasso (17 goals and five assists) and former Sassuolo midfielder Maxime Lopez, Gilli led PFC to a reasonably drama-free second-place finish. New owners are investing solid money into the club, and it appears they've found a pretty good manager to lead the way, too.