Highest-Paid Football Managers

Manager salaries don’t usually crop up in football discourse other than when they receive a massive payout. There isn’t much made of manager salaries, or the money clubs can waste on hiring and firing coaches.

The highest-paid football managers have phenomenal track records. Most of the names included in the list above have consistently delivered silverware for their clubs.

Roberto Mancini topped this list with a salary of £21.5 million until he left his job as Saudi Arabia manager on 25th October 2024.

Jose Mourinho (Fenerbahce) — £8.9 million

Jose Mourinho is a long way from his Special One peak. The strong-minded Portuguese manager still commands the fifth-highest salary in world football, however, after joining Fenerbahce in June 2024.

Mourinho left his last four jobs in less than positive circumstances despite winning trophies with Chelsea, Manchester United, and Roma. He’s still a man in demand, though, and remains the most entertaining personality in football management.

While his teams are no longer guaranteed success like in his early days, Mourinho’s box office nature remains.

Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid) — £9.6 million

Only one manager has won more than three European Cups/Champions Leagues. Carlo Ancelotti has won five, two with Milan, three with Real Madrid.

The amiable Italian doesn’t have a stubborn tactical identity like many of his peers on this list. Instead, his greatest success has been managing big-name, big-ego players, and getting teams in the mindset to perform their best when stakes are highest.

Ancelotti is the only manager to have won a league title in each of the top five leagues. He’s a three-time winner of the IFFHS World’s Best Club Coach.

Diego Simeone (Atletico Madrid) — £10.1 million

Diego Simeone has been among the world’s highest-paid football managers for a long period. Frank Schmidt at FC Heidenheim is the only manager in Europe’s top 10 leagues with a longer active stint at their club – Simeone will manage his 700th Atletico Madrid match during the 2024-25 season.

Since winning IFFHS Club Coach of the Decade for the 2010s, and lifting a second La Liga title in 2021, there has been a gradual downhill trend for Atleti and Simeone. Pressure is mounting on the former Argentina international.

Synonymous with his current club, it’s hard to imagine Simeone representing any other team, but that’s becoming an increasingly likely proposition.

Mikel Arteta (Arsenal) — £15 million

Arsenal agreed a new deal with Mikel Arteta worth around £15 million per year. It was first reported by Sky Sports in August 2024.

Arteta has overhauled the Gunners from an upper-mid-table side to perennial title challengers. They are yet to topple Manchester City, but they have gone from strength to strength under Arteta, who had to almost completely clear out the squad when he arrived in 2019.

Of the highest-paid managers in the world, Arteta is the only one without a packed trophy cabinet. He needs to add to his FA Cup from 2020 to avoid being remembered as a nearly man.

Pep Guardiola (Manchester City) — £20 million

Manchester City have the world’s most influential manager, they are enjoying a period of unparalleled Premier League dominance, and their owners have a bottomless pit for a bank account. It’s no surprise Pep Guardiola is the highest-paid manager in the world.

Simeone and Schmidt are the only longer-serving managers in Europe’s top 10 leagues. Guardiola’s reign at the Etihad Stadium is bound to come an end at some point, but it’s hard to see why he’d walk away when City keep racking up medals.

After winning three league titles each with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Guardiola has added six Premier League crowns with City. He also finally got his hands on a third Champions League.