The dugout can be unforgiving, and managers are always only a few bad results away from the chopping block.
This may explain why there are often more than a few elite coaches resting up while their fellow managers slog it out on the sidelines. The 2024-25 season is over, which means the summer is here for change.
We’ve already seen some free agents snapped up, including Massimiliano Allegri who has taken charge of AC Milan. There are also vacant roles, with Ange Postecoglou sacked by Tottenham Hotspur.
There are a host of big managers waiting in the wings to snap up vacant, or soon-to-be-vacant roles. We’ve ranked the best 10 managers currently without a job, who could be up for a summer move.
Honourable mentions: Walter Mazzarri, Daniele De Rossi, Kasper Hjulmand, Marco Rose, Sean Dyche.
10. Imanol Alguacil
For the first time since he entered coaching 12 years ago, Imanol Alguacil is not at Real Sociedad. He climbed the ranks at the club and eventually took charge of the first team in December 2018, leading them for six-and-a-half-seasons. The biggest achievement of his time at La Real is, of course, winning the Copa del Rey in 2019-20 to end their 23-year wait for a major trophy.
But overall, Alguacil helped Real Sociedad grow to become regulars in La Liga’s European spots, leading them in the Champions League and Europa League. The final season wasn’t great, but Alguacil has proven that he can grow a club and wouldn’t be a bad option for a lot of teams.
9. Joachim Low
Joachim Low would have ranked much higher on this list, but the majority of his success has come at international level. He’s also been out of work since the end of Euro 2020 (which happened in 2021). But what success he enjoyed with Germany.
Low reached three major finals during his 15-year-old spell as Germany boss, of course bringing home the ultimate prize with the 2014 World Cup. He also won the final Confederations Cup in 2017, reached the final of Euro 2008 and the World Cup semi-finals in 2010, beating Uruguay to finish third.
That is an incredible international CV, and goes along nicely with his more modest but still very impressive achievements at club level. This includes the 2001-02 Austrian Bundesliga title with Tirol Innsbruck — their last title — and the 1997 DFB-Pokal with Stuttgart.
8. Sergio Conceicao
Sergio Conceicao’s last role was not a good one, as he struggled at AC Milan. But the job he did at Porto is enough to rank him here. The Portuguese manager oversaw three league titles with Porto, though he never retained one. Porto also won the Portuguese Cup four times during Conceicao’s time in charge, alongside one Portuguese League Cup and the Portuguese Super Cup.
The Italian Super Cup was the only standout from his short stay at AC Milan, as he unfortunately did his part in the Rossoneri not qualifying for European football. Before his time at AC Milan, Conceicao had been one of the hot young names in management, and he’ll be looking for the right job to lift him back up.
7. Ange Postecoglou
Ange Postecoglou is a tough one to rank. The Australian led Tottenham to glory in the Europa League in 2024-25 — he always wins a trophy in his second season at a club. But he also led Tottenham to a 17th-placed finish in the Premier League with 22 defeats from their 38 games. Tottenham had finished fifth in his first season but even then there were doubts about his football. No one will forget him continuing to play a high line despite going down to nine men in a game against Chelsea — which Tottenham lost 1-4.
Postecoglou has tasted success elsewhere too. He won two league titles with Celtic as well as a Scottish FA Cup and two Scottish League Cups. And he’s won league titles in Australia and Japan, as well as the OFC Champions League. Postecoglou knows what he’s doing. But the stubbornness to stick to what’s not working at times does cost him.
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6. Luciano Spalletti
Luciano Spalletti announced his own sacking as Italy’s head coach this month. His time with the national team marked a new chapter for a manager with decades of top-level club experience behind him – and a league title most thought impossible. The high point of Spalletti’s club career came just months before he took the Italy job, when he guided Napoli to a historic Scudetto in 2022–23. It was the club’s first Serie A title since the days of Diego Maradona.
But Spalletti has long been regarded as one of Italy’s most astute tacticians. His early success came with Udinese and Roma, the latter of whom he famously managed by deploying Francesco Totti as football’s first ever false nine. He won back-to-back Coppa Italias with Roma, and later enjoyed silverware abroad with Zenit Saint Petersburg, winning the Russian top flight twice. He also took charge of Inter Milan during a transitional period, and helped steady the ship by returning them to the Champions League at the end of the last decade.
5. Edin Terzic
Edin Terzic is very much a Borussia Dortmund man, with two spells as manager at the club. But he also has experience as an assistant at West Ham United and Besiktas. In his first spell as Dortmund manager, Terzic steadied a rocky ship for the 2020-21 campaign. In the Bundesliga, Dortmund finished third, securing Champions League football for another season which had initially looked in doubt. Dortmund also reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League, and won the DFB-Pokal, beating RB Leipzig in the final.
His second spell may be deemed more successful, though it didn’t bring any success. In two years as actual manager — rather than interim — Terzic went so close to leading Borussia Dortmund to glory in the Bundesliga and Champions League. In 2022-23, Dortmund lost the league on goal difference to Bayern Munich having gone into the final day leading. A draw against Mainz did the damage to a young Dortmund team. Then, last season, Dortmund made it all the way to the Champions League final knocking out Paris Saint-Germain along the way. But record champions Real Madrid proved to be too much for Dortmund. Terzic left last summer and though he has been linked with new clubs since, he remains waiting for the right role.
4. Roberto Mancini
Roberto Mancini has been an international manager for the past six years. Or at least he was before leaving the Saudi Arabia post in 2024. The highlight of Mancini’s international managerial career was, of course, leading Italy to glory at Euro 2020. But he’s been linked with a return to club football. And it’s easy to forget he was a very good club manager.
During his pre-international managerial career, Mancini spent time in charge of Fiorentina, Lazio, Inter Milan (twice), Manchester City, Galatasaray and Zenit. Premier League fans will remember his spell with Man City, brought in as they started their rise and leading them to the title in 2012. They also picked up an FA Cup along the way. Before that, though, He won three consecutive Serie A titles as Inter Milan manager, dominating the post-Calciopoli era between 2005-06 and 2007-08. Mancini also won two Italian Cups with Inter, adding to the success he had in the competition with Lazio and Fiorentina. In fact, Mancini is a bit of a cup expert, also winning the Turkish Cup during his time as Galatasaray manager.
3. Xavi
Xavi hasn’t been in the management game long, compared to some of the men on this list, but he’s already built a decent record. The Spaniard started his managerial career in Qatar with Al-Sadd, having ended his career at the club. It was at Al-Sadd that Xavi honed his skills, eventually making the much-expected switch to Barcelona in November 2021.
He took charge of a Barcelona side lacking any real identity and in his first season there were periods of struggle, but work was happening. It’s work that came to fruition in the second season as Xavi led Barcelona to the league title, his first full campaign as manager. It was a romp to the title too, as Barcelona finished 10 points clear. The third season wasn’t as good, but Xavi was dealing with injury issues and problems with the club off the pitch. He announced his intention to leave the club, was persuaded to stay and then sacked at the end of the season. When he’s ready, Xavi may be the free agent every club wants.
2. Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp has been out of the management game for a year since leaving Liverpool. Klopp was recently considered for new coaching positions, and it’s been reported that the United States approached him before hiring Mauricio Pochettino. It’s easy to understand why there was interest in Klopp, given his successful transformations of both Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.
Under his leadership, Liverpool went from being in danger of dropping into mid-table obscurity to securing a long-awaited league title. Klopp’s style of football is also exciting, and he will have his pick of top coaching jobs when he’s ready. It’s also worth noting that he’s currently be global head of soccer at Red Bull, so a new coaching position isn’t likely in the near future.
1. Zinedine Zidane
We grew so used to watching Zinedine Zidane lift trophies as a manager, it’s easy to forget he hadn’t been in management long. But during that time, he won two La Liga titles and three consecutive Champions Leagues with Real Madrid, alongside a wealth of Super Cups and Club World Cups. It is a trophy haul many could only dream of across an entire career.
After failing to deliver any silverware in 2020-21, the Frenchman left the Bernabeu claiming Madrid didn’t show enough faith in him. He hasn’t managed since, waiting for the right job. We all know what that job is, but it’s still a year out.
That’s because France manager Didier Deschamps has confirmed he will step down from the role after Euro 2026. So Zidane may hold off given he has a very good chance of becoming the next Les Bleus boss.