Best Italian Managers of All Time

In the list of Champions League winning managers, Italian managers are sitting at top with 11 wins. That should give you the idea of how much quality the Italian tacticians have. There is no surprise that the country has won the World Cup on four occasions and also have two European Championship to its name, all came with the Italian managers. From the early decades, Italians preferred to focus on the defensive aspect of the game and try to attack the opponents on the counter-attacks. That’s why the

Italian football managers

are known with their defensive and passive style of play.

As mentioned above, in the Italian football managers are considered as the main man of every team. Italy was blessed with some of the best football players in the history of the game such as Gianni Rivera, Sandro Mazzola,

, Francesco Totti and so many more; but you can’t find any Italian national squad that was dependent on its superstars. That’s because tactics are paramount in the Calcio (Italian football) and managers are the most important person of every Italian side. So, without further ado let’s meet some of the best Italian managers of all time.

Who Are The Italy's Best Managers of All-time?

Picking a 10-men list of the best Italian managers of all time is not as easy as it sounds. For years and years Italian managers proved their worth not only on the Italian soil, but also abroad. As a matter of fact, there are three Italian managers that won the English Premier League whilst no English managers have done that! All things considered, in picking our shortlist we decided to focus on the consistency of managers throughout their career and that means we had to put away some big names such as Roberto Di Mateo who won a dramatic Champions League with Chelsea. Here is our selection of the Best Italian Managers of All Time:

• Fulvio Bernardini

• Vittorio Pozzo

• Massimiliano Allegri

• Claudio Ranieri

• Carlo Ancelotti

• Arrigo Sacchi

• Giovanni Trapattoni

• Antonio Conte

• Marcello Lippi

• Fabio Capello

Fulvio Bernardini

He is one of the few players in history that played for the both rival clubs in the Italian capital: Roma and Lazio. Fulvio Bernardini started his coaching career in 1949 by coaching his former club, Roma. On his early years as a coach, he didn’t win any trophy but things changed when he joined Fiorentina in 1953. The Florence club haven’t won the Italian top flight in their entire history. But it took Bernardini two years to build a winning team that won the Serie A against all odds. Fiorentina managed to replicate that achievement only once since then. So, you could ask Fiorentina fans how they think about Fulvio Bernardini!

Although he spent more years at Roma as a player, Fulvio Bernardini debut came with Lazio. So, he decided to return to his first club and won Lazio a Coppa Italia in 1958. In order to show that winning the league with the underdogs, Fiorentina, was not a coincidence, Bernardini joined

in 1961 and once again after two seasons, led the club to a historic Serie A championship. Winning the league title with a midtable side is nothing short than a miracle, but doing so twice and with two different clubs? That is something that makes you one of Italy's best managers of all-time.

Vittorio Pozzo

There is only one man that won the World Cup on two occasions and that is Vittorio Pozzo, the legendary Italian coach that guided his country to two back-to-back World Cup wins in 1934 and 1938. The 1934 World Cup was the first edition of the tournament that was being held in a European country which was Italy. Angelo Schiavio, Raimundo Orsi and

were Pozzo’s key players in that tournament as they reached to the final in Rome and beat Czechoslovakia on extra time with a score line of 2-1. Prior to the 1938 World Cup in France, Italy won the 1936 Olympic gold medal in Berlin with Pozzo at the dugout.

In the 1938 World Cup Italy had more work to do. They had to beat the hosts, France, in quarter-finals. Brazil was one of the title contenders in the tournament but even them couldn’t stop Italy from reaching to the final for the second consecutive time. A 4-2 win against Hungry in the final meant that Vittorio Pozzo was the first and up to this day the only coach who won the World Cup more than once. As one of

the greatest Italian coaches

He also invented a 2-3-2-3 shape during his managing career which was a precursor to the modern 4-3-3. 

Massimiliano Allegri

A mediocre midfielder during his playing days, turned out to be one of the best Italian managers of all time when started his coaching career in 2003 with the lower division club Aglianese. After years of gaining experience, Massimiliano Allegri showed his potential at

by leading his side to a ninth-place finish in the Serie A which was quite an achievement. On 2010 Milan trusted Allegri and a Serie A title on his debut season showed that the Milan board chose the right man. Four years later Allegri left the club for Juventus after they faced a financial crisis and couldn’t compete at top level.

During his five seasons at Juventus, Allegri won the league titles in each of those seasons. He also lifted the curse of Coppa Italia for Juve after two decades of not winning it and won four straight Coppa titles from 2014 to 2018. Massimiliano Allegri was on the verge of winning a treble on two occasions. But on both of his UCL finals, he lost the match to the Spanish giants, Barcelona and Real Madrid in 2015 and 2017 respectively. Winning 13 major domestic trophies is a proof of that Massimiliano Allegri knows the ways of winning and he has so many years ahead of him to win even more. 

Claudio Ranieri

Many will remember him with his spectacular spell at Leicester City but Claudio Ranieri had a wonderful career even before that historic championship. It all started back in 1986 when he retired as a defender and joined Vigor Lamezia to try his luck as a manager. his first trophies came with Cagliari which was a couple of Serie C titles. Years later Ranieri joined

and give hope to its fans as gained a promotion to the top flight by winning the Serie B title. A Coppa Italia and Supercup on his next years was enough for Fiorentina to write Ranieri’s name in their Hall of Fame.

Before Roman Abramovich took over at Chelsea, Ranieri joined the London club in 2000. He spent a couple of years to build a solid team and finished second in the league behind the invincible Arsenal. He also reached to the UCL semi-finals but after four years at the club, he didn’t win any trophies. After a short and prosperous spell at Valencia, Ranieri came back to Italy and had one of his best seasons with Roma. On his debut season at his first club as a player, Ranieri was only two points away from winning the Serie A title and ruining Mourinho’s treble with Inter.

The man who is a master of reading the game and adopting his team to different situations, didn’t win as much as trophies that he deserved throughout his career. But his fairytale at Leicester City would make up for all of his bad lucks in the past. In the 2015-16 season Ranieri got appointed as the head coach of Leicester and his main job was to avoid the relegation. But the Thinkerman took the league by storm and guided the Foxes to one of the most bizarre and delightful Premier League championships in history. He may not be the most decorated Italian managers in our list, but without a doubt Claudio Ranieri is one of the

best Italian managers of all time

.

Carlo Ancelotti

Carlo Ancelotti is one of the few people that won the UEFA Champions League on three occasions. Unlike most of the successful Italian football managers,

had a brilliant career as a player too. He was a key part of both Roma and AC Milan golden generations back in 80’s and won 12 major trophies as a player. Reggiana and Parma were Ancelotti’s first clubs as a manager. He won his first silverware with Juventus in 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup. In 2001 Ancelotti reunited with Milan and started one of the most prosperous eras in the club’s history. During his eight years at charge in Milan, Ancelotti won eight titles including two Champions League trophies in 2003 and 2007.

Just like many Italian footballers and managers, Ancelotti crossed path with Chelsea and won a domestic double in the 2009-10 season before Joining Paris Saint-Germain where he added another top European league title to his name. In 2013 Ancelotti succeeded Mourinho at Real Madrid won the famous La Decima by beating Atletico Madrid in the UCL final. A Bundesliga title and a couple of German super cups were his latest achievements. Although Carlo Ancelotti career faced a decline since then, but it is impossible to ignore him when you are talking about the best Italian managers of all time. He is now coaching Real Madrid and we could expect more trophies from him sooner or later. 

Arrigo Sacchi

A classic example of genius coaches that didn’t have a career as a football player. Arrigo Sacchi started a coaching career at the age of 27 when he took over Fusignano in 1973. Fast forward to ten years later, he had a great spell at

and dragged the club to higher divisions which was rewarded with the dream job of coaching AC Milan in 1987. Arrigo Sacchi certainly is one of the masterminds that revolutionized football with his unique ideas. Instead of insisting on a man-to-man defending system, Sacchi introduced the zonal defending which focused on closing the gaps and spaces on the pitch.

AC Milan had a dream back line of Tassotti, Baresi, Maldini, Costacurta and the famous Dutch trio of Rijkaard, Gullit and van Basten which helped Sacchi to dominate the European football. Arguably that Milan team is one of the best football teams in history and winning two consecutive European Cups in addition to six other international and domestic titles is a proof of that. In 1991 Sacchi left Milan to lead the Italy national team to glory. With the help of a superstar named Roberto Baggio, Italy reached to the final of 1994 World Cup with Sacchi at the helm. But a bitter loss against Brazil in the penalty shootouts ended the dream of lifting a World Cup trophy. Nevertheless, Arrigo Sacchi is one of

Italy's best managers of all-time

for his legendary legacy at AC Milan.

Giovanni Trapattoni

As one of the most decorated managers in the world,

surely deserves a place amongst the best Italian managers of all time. He spent almost his entire career at AC Milan as a defender and hanged up his boots in 1972 when he immediately started a coaching career at Milan youth academy. On his first years as a professional head coach, he couldn’t replicate the titles that he won with Milan as a player and joined Juventus in 1976 and the rest as they say is history. On his first spell at Juve, Trapattoni won 13 silverwares including the club’s first ever European Cup in 1985 as they won a controversial final against Liverpool in Heysel.

After a five-year spell at Inter and winning a league title and a UEFA Cup, Trapattoni returned to Juventus to add another UEFA Cup to the club’s trophy cabinet. His first experience away from the Italian soil was coaching Bayern Munich in the 1994-95 season. Giovanni Trapattoni proved that he is a winner coach no matter where he is coaching by guiding the Bavarian side to a Bundesliga title in addition to a couple of other domestic silverwares on his second spell at the club. Maybe his biggest regret is that he couldn’t lead the golden generation of Italy in the 2002 World Cup to glory as they got defeated to the hosts, South Korea, in an utterly scandalous match. 

Antonio Conte 

Antonio Conte is one of the other

best Italian managers of all time

that is still active and has a long way ahead of him as a coach. As one of the icons of the Juventus, Antonio Conte spent 13 years playing for the Bianconeri. Two years after his retirement, in 2006 Conte started coaching the lower divisions clubs in the Italian football. Arezzo, Bari, Atalanta and Siena were his first clubs and he had a relatively successful era at each of them. Winning the Serie B title in 2009 with Bari was the highlight of his career before joining his Beloved Juventus in 2011.

It's fair to say that Antonio Conte laid the foundations of the next decades success for Juventus. Three straight Serie A titles helped Juventus to build a winning team that went on to add another six league titles in the coming years. Conte joined Italy national team to prepare the underdogs for the EURO 2016 where they put on a great display and got knocked out only by penalty shootouts against Germany. After that Conte joined Chelsea and implemented an attractive 3-4-3 formation which helped them to win a league and a FA Cup title. Eventually, Conte was the man who ended up Juventus’s dominance on Italian football as he won the Serie A with Inter in 2021 to prove that with the right players, Antonio Conte’s teams are unbeatable. 

Marcello Lippi

Alongside Enzo Bearzot and Vittorio Pozzo, Marcello Lippi is another World Cup winner Italian manager. But winning the Jules Rimet trophy in 2006 is not the only reason that makes Lippi one of the best Italian managers of all time. Marcello Lippi journey as a manager started in 1982 when he joined

youth team as a coach. Since then, Lippi climbed the ladder one step at a time and managed eight various clubs until in 1994 he got appointed as the head coach of Juventus. On his debut season Lippi managed to win both Serie A and Coppa Italia titles. Lippi was a flexible coach that could use different tactics for each game. That helped him to build his great legacy in the coming years.

Serie A was the best league in the world back then and winning it even once was considered as a huge achievement for every coach. Lippi won the Scudetto five times during his era at Juve but that wasn’t enough for him. Marcelo guided Juventus to three consecutive UCL finals from 1995 to 1998 and another one in 2003, but unbelievably he won the Big Ear trophy only once in 1995 and lost the other three finals to Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid and AC Milan respectively. That shows even if you are one of the greatest Italian coaches of all time, you still need a little bit of luck to win trophies. 

Fabio Capello

Another manager that is well known for his great success during the Serie A golden era. Fabio Capello was a decent midfielder that played for elite Italian sides such as

, Juve and Milan. He broke his teeth as a manager in 1987 when he got appointed as a caretaker at Milan. Few years later in 1991 Capello became the main man at the club and started a legendary era in Italian football. Capello won four Serie A and three super cups in only five years at Milan. But winning the Champions League by humiliating Barcelona in the final with a score line of 4-0 was his masterpiece at the Rossoneri.

Apart from winning the La Liga title with Real Madrid on two occasions, Fabio Capello will be remembered for his heroic spell at Roma from 1999 to 2004. Back then Roma displayed one of the most delightful attacking footballs across Europe with the legendary trio of Francesco Totti, Vincenzo Montella and Gabriel Batistuta. Roma won its third and up to this day last league title with Capello in 2001 and a super cup in the following season. On his last years as a manager, Capello decided to experience the international football by coaching England and Russia. However, dominating the Italian and European football with Milan, winning a remarkable Scudetto with Roma, winning league titles in each of his four seasons with Juventus and Real Madrid is more than enough to consider Fabio Capello as one of the

best Italian managers of all time

.

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