Best French Managers of All Time

When you look at the top players in the football history, you can’t ignore French players such as Michel Platini, Eric Cantona, Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Viera, and many more. The same goes for French managers too. Football wouldn’t be the same as it is today without some of the

best French managers of all time

. Managers who built a great legacy during their coaching careers in France domestic league or abroad.

Creating a list of the 10 best French managers of all time

is not easy at all since France has produced so many talented football managers throughout its history.  There are managers who kept their consistency for nearly decades and won trophies with different teams, and then you have some other managers that their career didn’t last long but they managed to have an extraordinary spell for a few seasons and made their way to become one of the best French managers of all time.

Who Are the Top 10 Best French Football Managers Ever?

We created a shortlist of

top 10 best French football managers of all time

and reviewed their journey to become one of the best football managers ever. But before that, lets have a quick look at our 10 men list of the best French managers ever:

• Gerard Houllier

• Michel Hidalgo

• Jean-Claude Suaudeau

• Albert Batteux

• Guy Roux

• Laurent Blanc

• Zinedine Zidane

• Didier Deschamps

• Aime Jacquet

• Arsene Wenger

Gerard Houllier

Gérard Paul Francis Houllier was born on 1947 in Therouame, France. Houllier started his coaching career in 1973 with Le Touquet which was playing at third division in France football. Under Houllier, the club gained a promotion to higher division. He continued his career coaching lower division teams until in 1982 when he got appointed as the head coach of Lens. Houllier promoted Lens to the top division of France football and even secured a place in UEFA Cup with the club. Little by little Houllier was building a reputation in the football world and winning a Division 1 title with Paris Saint-Germain in 1985-86 season helped him in that.

After nearly a decade managing France national team on various age groups, Houllier joined Liverpool in 1998 as an assistant coach and a few months later, with the resignment of Roy Evans, Houllier became the head coach of the Liverpool. His main mission at

was to rebuild the club which was far away from its golden days. Houllier managed to do that and his best season was in 2000-01 when he won the FA Cup, Football League Cup, FA Charity Shield, UEFA Cup and UEFA Super Cup. The team that Houllier built, went on to win the Champions League with Rafael Benitez just one year after he left the club in 2004. After Liverpool Houllier returned to France and won two consecutive Ligue 1 titles with Lyon. Gerard Houllier had a short spell at Aston Villa before he got retired in 2011. 

Michel Hidalgo

Michel François Hidalgo was born on 1933 in Northern France. He was relatively a successful football player during his playing days. Hidalgo represented Le Harve, Reims, and Monaco as a midfielder and won eight silverwares with his last two clubs. It was in 1967 when Hidalgo started his managerial career with coaching Monaco second team. He spent nearly a decade to gain experience in coaching until he became the assistant of Stedan Kovacs who was the head coach of France national team. In 1976, Hidalgo replaced Kovacs and took the reins of his country national team. At that point, Hidalgo started to build his legacy as one of

the best French managers of all time

.

He implemented an attacking style of football to the team and made France a team to be feared in Europe. After a poor performance at 1978 World Cup, Hidalgo’s France put on a decent show in 1982 World Cup and reached to the semi-final against west Germany. After an exciting 3-3 draw, France lost the game only on penalties. Two years later in 1984 European Championship which was held in France, Hidalgo managed to beat

by two goals in the final to win France’s first ever major trophy. In the same year he was named as Manager of the Year by World Soccer Magazine and his influence on French football is surely enough to name him one of the 10 best French managers of all time.

Jean-Claude Suaudeau

Jean-Claude Suaudeau was born on 1938 in Cholet, France. He started his professional football career at 1960 playing for Nantes. Suaudeau was a midfielder during his playing days and he always had a sharp eye to analyze what is happening on the pitch. In 1960’s 

was one of the best teams in France top tier and they won 2 back-to-back league titles in 1965 and 1966 which Jean-Claude Suaudeau played a key part in them. After playing only for Nantes for nine years, Jean-Claude Suaudeau hanged up his boots in 1969 and started his coaching career four years later by managing in Nantes youth academy. 

After developing his skills as a manager in Nantes youth academy for nearly a decade, in 1982 Jean-Claude Suaudeau was ready to become the head coach of the first team. From the very beginning, Jean-Claude Suaudeau showed that he has the potential to become one of

top 10 best French football managers

ever. In his debut season he won the league title to become one of the few people that won the Division 1 title both as a player and a manager with the same team. Suaudeau repeated the title on his second spell at the club in 1995 and he also left a record run of 32 unbeaten matches in a single season which still is to be broken.

Albert Batteux

You simply can’t have a list of the 10 best French managers of all time and don’t include Albert Batteux in it. Batteux was born on 1919 and started playing professional football in 1937 for Reims. He stayed a one-club man and retired at Reims in 1950 and immediately after he became the head coach of his beloved club.

under Albert Batteux dominated the French football winning five league titles and a Coupe de France title from 1950 to 1963. Batteux also led his team to two European Cup finals but on both occasions, they lost the finals to the golden generation of Real Madrid back then.

Albert Batteux was leading France national team from 1955 to 1962 concurrently to his Reims job. A World Cup third place was his best achievement at France. Unlike his playing days, Batteux was not a one-club man in his coaching career. Later in 1967 he joined Saint-Etienne and won three consecutive league titles right away in addition to two Coupe de France titles. That turned him to the most successful manager ever in the history of French domestic football. That explains why Albert Batteux is one of

the best French managers of all time

and how he earned his place in this list. 

Guy Roux 

Guy Roux is a legendary figure in the history of French football. Roux was born in 1938 in Colmar, France and started his career as a midfielder playing for Auxerre in 1954. After a few years, Guy Marcel Roux returned to

in 1961 but this time as a player-manager. The club was playing in forth tier of French football back then and Roux managed to gain a promotion to the third tier in 1970 and after that, he retired from playing football to concentrate on coaching the club. Auxerre was evolving under Roux and in 1974 once again they got promoted and reached to the Division 2 which was the second tier of French football.

After spending five years in Division 2 and reaching a Coupe de France final in 1979, Auxerre made it to the top flight in 1980 and Guy Roux was the main man in this incredible achievement. Guy Roux won a total of 10 trophies with Auxerre including a Division 1 title in 1996 and four Coupe de France titles and a UEFA Intertoto Cup in 1997. Roux is not the most decorated manager in our list but coaching a club for nearly a half century and leading it from fourth division to the top of the French football, is what makes you one of the best French managers of all time. 

Laurent Blanc

Laurent Robert Blanc was a world-class defender during his playing days. He was born in 1965 and started playing from Montpellier in 1983 and later he played for top level clubs in Europe such as Napoli, Barcelona, Inter Milan, and Manchester United. He also represented the France national team in 97 games and won the World Cup and the EURO with Les Bleus as a player. Laurent Blanc coaching career started in 2007 when he took the reins of Bordeaux. In his debut season, he led Bordeaux to a runner-up medal in Ligue 1 and in his second season, he finally finished the job and lift the Ligue 1 trophy with Bordeaux in addition to a Cope de la Ligue and a Trophee des Champions (French super cup) in the same season.

On his third and last season with Bordeaux, Blanc didn’t win any trophy but topping in a UCL group featuring Bayern Munich and Juventus and reaching to the quarter-finals was a decent achievement for the club. After spending two years as France national team manager, Blanc left the job in 2012 and joined

in 2013. Laurent Blanc was the man at charge when PSG started to dominate the French football and in his 3 years at the club, he won every possible title in domestic competitions and was named as Ligue 1 manager of the year in 2015 and 2016. The man who is famous for eating lollipops when he is on the sidelines, surely deserves a spot on our best French managers of all time list. 

Zinedine Zidane

There are just a handful of great football players that turned out to be great managers as well and Zinedine Zidane is one of them without any doubt. The legendary midfielder was born in 1972 and his career as a footballer was just spectacular. Zidane as a player, was one of the best players ever that stepped on the green pitch and watching him playing was a joy. In 2006 Zizou hanged up his boots and it took him 12 years to start a coaching career at Real Madrid Castilla. After a couple of years, he replaced Rafael Benitez and became the head coach of Real Madrid to guide the club to a UCL championship on his debut season.

On the next season he once again conquered the Europe and also won the La Liga. In 2017-18 season Zidane managed to win the UCL for the third time in three seasons and became the only manager in history to do so. Although he has still a long way ahead of him as a manager, but his achievements at Real Madrid are more than enough to consider him not only one of

the 10 best French managers of all time

, but also as one of the best football managers ever.

Didier Deschamps

Didier Deschamps was also a part of the 1998 World Cup winning France squad that turned out to be a great manager as well. The 1968 born defensive midfielder had an above average career as a player and played for top clubs such as Marseille, Juventus, and Chelsea. Shortly after his retirement in 2001 Deschamps started his coaching career at Monaco and it didn’t take him long to show off his talents as a great coach. He won his first title as a manager in 2003 which was a League Cup (Coupe de la Ligue) with

. One year later he reached to the UCL final only to be beaten by Jose Mourinho’s Porto.

After a short spell at Juventus and helping the club to come back to Serie A after the Calciopoli scandal, Didier Deschamps joined Marseille in 2009 and won the Ligue 1 in his debut season at the club. He also added three Coupe de la Ligue trophies to Marseille’s cabinet and left the club to become the head coach of France national team in 2012. His job was to rebuild the France team after the big names like Frank Ribery and Thierry Henry retired form national duty. Deschamps started a well-organized project and reached to EURO 2016 final but lost the match against Portugal. Finally in 2018 Deschamps men won the World Cup in Russia and Deschamps became the only French man who won the World cup both as a player and as a coach.

Aime Jacquet

Aime Jacquet is another World Cup winner manager in our list who also was a defensive midfielder during his playing days. He was born on 1941 and joined Saint-Etienne in 1960 where he won 11 silverwares including five Division 1 titles as a player. after spending 13 years at the club, Jacquet joined

on his last two years and retired from playing in 1975. One year later he came back to Lyon as a head coach and lead the team for four seasons. After that Jacquet coached three different clubs but his best spell what at Bordeaux from 1984 to 1989. Aime Jacquet won three league titles in addition to two league cups and a super cup in that era.

Jacquet had a decent career at club level as a coach but he will be remembered for what he done at France national team. In 1992 he accepted the national duty as an assistant to Gerard Houllier and one year later, he became the main man in leading the France to glory. Years prior to 1998 World Cup in France, people were not convinced by the Jacquet team performance and demanded a new coach. But Aimé Étienne Jacquet stood strong and put on a great show in the World Cup and beating the legendary Brazil in final match with three goals was the cherry on the cake. Wining the nation’s first world cup made Jacquet a national hero and one of the top 10 best French football managers ever.

Arsene Wenger

 Arsene Charles Ernest Wenger, born on 1949 in Strasbourg, France. A man who is not only one of the greatest ever French football coaches, but also an icon of the English Premier League. During his playing days, Arsene Wenger was not a top-level player and didn’t find the chance to play for elite clubs in his country. In 1984, three years after his retirement from football, Wenger joined Nancy as the head coach of the club. Wenger had a relatively successful spell at Nancy but his first trophy came with Monaco in 1988 which was a Division 1 title. After spending one season in Nagoya Grampus in Japanese football, Arsene Wenger joined

in 1996 and the rest as they say, is history.

Coaching Arsenal was not an easy job especially for a manager who didn’t have any experience in English football. But Arsene Wenger jus needed one season to build a winning team and in his second season, he won both the Premier League and the FA Cup titles. Arsene Wenger coached Arsenal for the next 22 years and won a total of 17 trophies with the Gunners. Including a unique golden Premier League trophy in 2003-04 season due to his unbeaten record throughout the season. But what Arsene Wenger did at Arsenal is way more than these precious cups and medals. He managed to keep the club as one of the top 4 clubs in English Premier League for more than a decade and helped the club to grow on financial levels as well.

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