Key Takeaways
Foreign managers have played a role in the Premier League's development just as much as foreign players have.
Howard Wilkinson was the last English coach to win the English top flight and that was prior to the Premier League's creation.
At the time of writing, only one entrant on this list is still managing in the Premier League.
The Premier League is well-known for its array of world-class players over the years, just as it is known for having been home to some of the game’s best managers. In the three decades and more of history in the modern format of the English top flight, there have been some truly sensational characters.
Of course, there have been countless British and Irish bosses over the years. Sir Alex Ferguson, the greatest manager in Premier League history, is a standout example, but there have been far more coaches that, while not necessarily on that level, have still been great managers. David Moyes, Brendan Rodgers and Eddie Howe are just three names from a list of many.
With the growth of the game, however, there has been an increasing global influence on the division, with players and managers now being from a far larger field of countries than they used to be. So, with this being said, which 10 foreign managers have been the best to ever work in the Premier League?
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Ranking Factors
An important criteria for this list is that any managers from anywhere in the British Isles outside of England (Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland) have not been included, hence why names such as Sir Alex Ferguson have not been mentioned outside of the introduction. This list has also been based on:
Quality - A simple but important factor, how good was the manager at implementing tactics and improving players?
Trophies won - How many honours did each entrant win and how significant were they for the club they were with?
Legacy - How well-remembered is each entrant? What legacy did they carve out for themselves in England?
Fan reception - Do the fans of the club, or clubs, that each entrant managed remember them fondly?
10 Best Foreign Premier League Managers of All Time
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10 Thomas Frank
Brentford
The 21st century has been about progression for Brentford. They rose from the fourth tier and later fell back into that division before earning promotion once again. They reached the Championship in 2014 where the club established themselves in the second tier under Dean Smith until, in 2018, he was replaced by Thomas Frank.
Frank reached two Championship play-off finals with the Bees, sealing promotion on the second attempt. Since then, despite being marked for an immediate relegation, Frank has transformed Brentford into a solid, mid-table Premier League side. With smart signings like Ivan Toney, Bryan Mbuemo, Christian Norgaard and Vitaly Janelt, amongst many others, consistently defying the odds.
Knowing that they would have less of the ball in the Premier League when compared to the Championship, Frank has adapted his team to be a threat from set pieces and throw-ins. Last season, despite a consistent number of injuries to important players and suspension to Toney, the Dane still managed to finish 13 points ahead of the relegation zone.
Frank’s name has understandably been put into the mixer for jobs that open up amongst the Premier League’s higher-ranked sides, but the manager has shown little interest in working anywhere other than the team with which he has spent all of his time in England.
9 Claudio Ranieri
Chelsea, Leicester City, Fulham, Watford
Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri lifts the trophy with Kasper Schmeichel
Currently employed at Roma in his third stint as the club’s manager, Claudio Ranieri’s first taste of management in England came when Chelsea appointed him in the year 2000. Over the course of four seasons in London, Ranieri oversaw the development and in some cases, purchases, of players such as Frank Lampard, John Terry and Joe Cole, also being in charge when Roman Abramovich took over the club.
Though Ranieri helped Chelsea reach a level to qualify for the Champions League, the Italian ultimately won no honours with the Blues. His perceived over-rotation of players led to the English media nicknaming him “The Tinkerman” and Ranieri was relieved of his duties as manager in May 2004.
There would be 11 years between then and Ranieri’s return to England. In 2015, he became Leicester City manager and succeeded Nigel Pearson, with whom the Foxes narrowly avoided relegation. Upon his arrival, Ranieri signed players such as Shinji Okazaki, Robert Huth, Christian Fuchs and N’Golo Kante to integrate with those already at the club, such as Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy.
Ranieri’s Leicester side took the league by storm. They were surprise title contenders and their expected drop off in form never game. By the campaign’s end, the Tinkerman had become “the Thinkerman” after guiding the Foxes to a Premier League title, one of the greatest shocks not just in football, but in sports overall.
Ranieri was dismissed in 2017, much to the heartbreak of Leicester fans. Uneventful stints with Fulham and Watford followed, but the Italian’s work at the King Power Stadium has etched him into Premier League folklore.
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8 Mauricio Pochettino
Southampton, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea
Five years ago, it would have been hard to imagine that after such a span of time, Mauricio Pochettino would be managing the United States national team. Without any disrespect meant, Pochettino guided Tottenham Hotspur to a Champions League final in 2019, having put together a squad that consistently contended for honours with the likes of Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen, Dele Alli and Son Heung-min, to name but a few.
It was that same year that Pochettino was sacked by Spurs after a poor run of form in the league, though the fact he was dismissed takes nothing away from how close he came to achieving glory with the club. Prior to his first stint in London, Pochettino had worked with Southampton, joining the coastal club in January 2013.
In what was the Argentinian’s first and only full season in charge of the Saints, he guided them to an eighth-placed finish, which was then their highest-ever Premier League position. Pochettino’s third effort at managing in England saw him return to the capital, only to West London instead of North London.
Replacing former interim boss Frank Lampard, Pochettino signed a two-year contract to manage Chelsea. Despite hopes being high, however, he would serve as boss for just one season. With a mass number of players, much of his tenure was spent figuring out his best 11. Some thought it harsh when Pochettino was dismissed, given that he seemed to have finally found the team that worked best for him.
7 Carlo Ancelotti
Chelsea and Everton
Carlo Ancelotti-1
The man affectionately known as “Don Carlo” to the Real Madrid faithful, Carlo Ancelotti’s first foray into English football came in 2009, when he was appointed as Chelsea manager to replace interim manager Guus Hiddink as their fourth permanent manager in just under two years.
It is hardly surprising that Ancelotti had an immediate impact on his players, guiding Chelsea to a Premier League title in his first season in charge while setting numerous records along the way. One such feat was his Chelsea team becoming the first Premier League side to score more than 100 goals in a season. Just under a week after securing the league, Ancelotti sealed a domestic double by winning the FA Cup.
Despite a second-placed league finish in his following season and just 24 losses across 109 games, Ancelotti was dismissed soon after the final game of the 2010/11 season, which he lost 1-0 to Everton who, ironically, would be the next English team he managed after an eight-year absence from the country.
Appointed in December 2019, Ancelotti guided Everton to a 12th-placed finish that term and the following year, his sole full season in charge, he had the club in the top four at Christmas. Though form would eventually drop, Everton finished 10th in a season fans regarded as successful. That June, however, Ancelotti resigned to return to Real Madrid, leaving many Toffees fans wondering what could have been.
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6 Antonio Conte
Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur
At the time of writing, Antonio Conte has Napoli one point clear at the top of the Serie A table after 14 games, having lost just two league games all season. Now back in his native Italy, Conte has managed in only one other country; England. His first stint in the Premier League began in 2016, when he joined Chelsea on a three-year contract.
Famed for his preference for a three-at-the-back system, Conte hit the ground running with the Blues, winning the division in his maiden season and achieving victory in 30 games while doing so, setting a record for the most wins in a Premier League campaign by any one team.
Though Conte won an FA Cup in his second term in charge, Chelsea slipped to a fifth-placed finish in the league which saw the Italian sacked at the campaign’s end. After a year or so out of work, Conte joined Inter Milan, departing after two years of service. Some months after that, he was appointed as Tottenham Hotspur’s new manager.
While the Italian was able to help Spurs return to the Champions League, he was unable to guide the club to any major honours. In fact, Conte is probably remembered most for the infamous press conference he held after a 3-3 draw with Southampton in 2023, where he attacked the club and owner for their lack of ambition, soon after which he was promptly sacked.
5 Rafa Benitez
Liverpool, Chelsea, Newcastle United, Everton
Former Newcastle United manager Rafa Benitez
After the departure of Gerard Houllier, who had set many of the foundations that would later reap success, Liverpool hired Rafa Benitez as his replacement, making him the first Spanish Premier League manager. Though he could not convince Michael Owen to remain at the club, he could with Steven Gerrard, who formed a midfield with new signing Xabi Alonso.
In his first season, Benitez’s players struggled with injury and he could guide Liverpool no higher than fifth in the league. In Europe, though, Liverpool were a strong side and reached the final where they faced AC Milan in Istanbul. Regarded as one of the best, if not the absolute best, Champions League final of all time, Liverpool famously came back from a 3-0 deficit in the second half, levelling the game and winning the trophy on penalties.
Benitez won an FA Cup with Liverpool the following season, though this would be the only other major honour he would win before he departed the club in 2010. Just two years later, he was hired as interim manager at Chelsea, where he won the Europa League and overcame early hostility from supporters due to his Liverpool links.
In 2016, Benitez was hired to try and steer Newcastle United away from the relegation zone, a task he ultimately was unsuccessful in. The Spaniard stayed, however, guiding the Magpies back to the top flight at the first time of asking and helping them consolidate their place in the division, despite a lack of backing from the ownership.
Benitez’s latest Premier League job came in 2021, when he became Everton manager and just the second person in history to have been in charge of both Merseyside clubs. Though the Toffees enjoyed a strong start to the season, Benitez was sacked after a significant drop in form, having been employed for just six months.
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4 Jose Mourinho
Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur
After winning the Champions League with Porto, Jose Mourinho rose to being one of the continent’s most sought-after managers. In 2004, it was Chelsea that secured the Portuguese’s services, where Mourinho would remain for the following three seasons. In this time, “The Special One” guided Chelsea to an FA Cup and two Premier League titles, going unbeaten at home for an unprecedented amount of time.
Early into the 2007/08 season, Mourinho departed Chelsea, supposedly by mutual consent despite there being disagreements between him and the board. After time with Inter Milan and Real Madrid, Mourinho returned to Stamford Bridge in 2013 and soon after won his third Premier League title. After picking up just 11 points from the first 12 games of the 2015/16 campaign, however, and losing nine of their first 16 matches, Mourinho left the club for a second and so far final time.
Manchester United elected to appoint Mourinho in May 2016, marking the first time the manager had worked in England with another team. Though he guided the Red Devils to a double in his first term of the Europa League and EFL Cup, he was unable to win the Premier League at Old Trafford and was sacked in 2018.
After almost a year away from management, Mourinho returned to English football in 2019 to replace Mauricio Pochettino as Tottenham Hotspur manager. Spurs enjoyed the early months of his reign, roaring into top form. Mourinho had a chance to be the first manager to bring silverware to Spurs in over a decade in 2021 when he reached the EFL Cup final, but he was sacked just days before the game at Wembley.
Despite how his time ended with Tottenham and an up-and-down period in Manchester, Mourinho is easily one of the best and certainly one of the most charismatic Premier League managers ever.
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3 Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool
After lengthy stints with Mainz and Borussia Dortmund in his native Germany, Jurgen Klopp was chosen as the new Liverpool manager in 2015 to replace Brendan Rodgers, who now works with Celtic. Liverpool fans could scarcely have foreseen the nine-year journey they were about to embark on.
Klopp, with his signature brand of energetic, Gegenpressing football, completely revolutionised Liverpool, a club in desperate need of such an action. Over the years, through careful management and smart signings, Klopp turned Liverpool back into the title contenders that a club of their stature should be.
Battling with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City throughout his tenure, Klopp was able to win a Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and two EFL Cups for Liverpool, also finishing as Europa League runner-ups in his first season in charge. He also reached three Champions League finals overall.
Klopp announced earlier this year that the 2023/24 season would be his last at Anfield. Not only did Klopp achieve success as boss, but he has seemingly set Liverpool up beautifully for the future, with successor Arne Slot inheriting a squad that Klopp put together and taking the Premier League by storm.
2 Pep Guardiola
Manchester City
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on the touchline
Having established himself as one of the best managers in the world, first by being the driving force behind one of Barcelona's best-ever teams, second by helping Bayern Munich continue their domestic dominance in Germany, expectations were high when Pep Guardiola arrived in the Premier League, joining Manchester City in 2016.
Since then, the Catalan manager has completely changed the face of English football. Many, if not all, teams now, both in the Premier League and within lower levels of the pyramid, aim to play a possession-based style of football in which they control the ball. They too play with goalkeepers that, more often than not, have to be comfortable with the ball at their feet, two aspects of the modern game that Guardiola has greatly influenced.
As well as this, Guardiola has also reaped an immense level of success at Manchester City. The club have won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four EFL Cups and a Champions League, winning the latter as part of an historic European treble in 2022, becoming just the second English side to ever accomplish the feat.
At the time of writing, much has been made of Guardiola in Man City's recent, significant drop in form, but that does not take away from the lasting impact that he has unquestionably made.
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1 Arsene Wenger
Arsenal
In 1996, many were confused when Arsenal chose to appoint Arsene Wenger as Bruce Rioch's managerial successor. The Frenchman was managing in Japan at the time and much of the English media placed questions to the Gunners for appointing such a relative unknown. Wenger, however, would remain with the Gunners for over two decades.
Wenger transformed Arsenal into a club unrecognisable to that which he took over. The dietary structure that he implemented is something that, eventually, all clubs looked to emulate. Wenger was one of the first in the English game, at least at such a mainstream level, to acknowledge the importance of the diet to a player.
In his time with the Gunners, Wenger qualified for the Champions League for 19-straight seasons, even amidst the club's move to the Emirates Stadium, which saw his spending limited from what it otherwise would have been. On top of seven FA Cup triumphs, the Frenchman also won three Premier League titles during his time in North London.
Most famously was his third and final Premier League win, in which Arsenal completed the league season unbeaten on their march to the title with players such as Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira and Freddie Ljungberg to name only a few on a list of brilliant players. Despite some tension towards the end of his reign, Wenger's lasting legacy will not be forgotten anytime soon.
(All stats are from Transfermarkt and are correct as of 03/12/2024)