Ranked: The top 10 out-of-work managers right now
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. We’re at the halfway stage of the 2024-25 season, and a few names have been added to the list of out-of-work managers.
In the past few months alone, we’ve seen the England and Manchester United roles filled by Thomas Tuchel and Ruben Amorim respectively. January has also seen Sean Dyche leave Everton and Julen Lopetegui depart West Ham United.
Those roles have also been filled very quickly, with Graham Potter taking over at West Ham and David Moyes returning to Everton.
So those are a few names to have moved out of the free agent market. But there are still a host of big managers still waiting in the wings.
We’ve ranked the best 10 managers without a job who could be up for grabs.
Honourable mentions: Maurizio Sarri, Walter Mazzarri, Rudi Garcia, Niko Kovac, Daniele De Rossi, Kasper Hjulmand, Julen Lopetegui
10. Paulo Fonseca
Now, Paulo Fonseca didn’t have the best of times at AC Milan. But he’s still a decent manager. He just couldn’t deal with the specific pressure of the job. Immediately after leaving the Milan role, the Portuguese manager was linked with a move to the Premier League and the vacant West Ham and Everton jobs. Most of Fonseca’s success as a manager did come during his spell in charge of Shakhtar Donetsk, when they were dominating Ukrainian football. But he does also have some success in Portugal with Braga and Porto. It will be interesting to see who puts their faith in Fonseca next.
9. Sean Dyche
According to reports, Sean Dyche made the decision to leave Everton, believing he had taken the Toffees as far as he could. And without Dyche, Everton would be in the Championship right now. Sure, they also have Jordan Pickford to thank, but under Dyche, Everton had a stern defence.
In fact, last season, they had one of the best defences in the Premier League. It’s just their defence, and a points deduction, that let the Toffees down. It was a similar story this season too, with Everton’s defence one of the better ones in the leagues. But they’re the second-lowest scorers. There was only so much Dyche could do.
Dyche is a reliable manager for teams lower down the table, and it probably won’t be too long before he’s back in management trying to rescue another club.
8. Joachim Low
Joachim Low would have ranked much higher on this list, but the majority of his success has come at international level, while’s been out of work since the end of the last European Championships in 2021. But what success he enjoyed with Germany.
Low — now 64 — 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.
7. Erik ten Hag
Recency bias may hamper some people’s opinions of Erik ten Hag. Although he led the club to two trophies, one in each season, Ten Hag never really was the right fit for Man United. He may have been the right man, but it was the wrong time.
That shouldn’t take away from his previous successes, though. The Dutchman was at the helm during a period of success for Ajax, winning three Eredivisie titles in four seasons. And the one season he didn’t win, it was because the campaign was curtailed and no team was awarded the title. Ajax also did the league and cup Double twice under Ten Hag, while reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League. That run saw Ajax knock out defending champions Real Madrid en route to the semi-finals, where they were on the wrong end of Tottenham’s dramatic comeback. But Ajax were praised for going so deep in the competition.
In his first season at Man United, Ten Hag led the Red Devils to two cup finals, winning the EFL Cup. They also finished third in the Premier League, with a return to the Champions League secured after Man United had finished sixth a year earlier. But the second season was poor, which is stopping Ten Hag from being higher on this list. Man United finished eighth in the Premier League, only qualifying for Europe as FA Cup winners. And they finished bottom of their Champions League group.
6. 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 at the end of the season and though he has been linked with new clubs since, he remains waiting for the right role.
5. 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.
4. Massimiliano Allegri
Juventus ended Massimiliano Allegri’s second tenure with the club by sacking him after his behaviour at the 2024 Coppa Italia final.
Just two days after leading Juventus to victory, Allegri was dismissed for ranting at match officials and waving away Juve’s sporting director during the celebrations. Following this, the Italian Football Federation’s disciplinary tribunal investigated him.
Allegri led Juventus from 2014 to 2019, during which they won the title in each of his five seasons, claimed four Italian Cups, and reached the Champions League final twice. He left by mutual consent at the end of the 2018-19 season.
After a two-year break, he returned as Juventus manager at the start of the 2021-22 season, but his second tenure did not match the success of his first. The team only won the Italian Cup, finishing fourth and seventh in his two full seasons before his recent departure, leaving the team in fourth place.
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 probably won’t be available for a year. He announced his departure from Liverpool and football at the start of 2024, stating a loss of energy as the reason. And he isn’t currently looking for a new role.
“I have to start with the rest now and then we will see,” he said on departing Liverpool. “But it’s not now that I feel already and [think about] maybe the next opportunity. You only have to look outside which clubs are obviously available and stuff like this.
“There will be opportunities, but I don’t sit here and think, ‘Maybe in a year’s time I take that’. At this moment, it’s see you later.”
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
After failing to deliver any silverware in 2020-21, the Frenchman left the Bernabeu claiming Madrid didn’t show enough faith in him. However, Zizou isn’t done with coaching just yet.
“I will be back soon. Wait, wait a little bit. Soon, soon. I’m not far from coaching again,” Zidane told RMC Sport in 2022.
But there is every chance that we might not see Zidane back in the dugout until 2026. 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.
