When Claude Puel was fired by Leicester City over the weekend, there were no more French head coaches at a top-flight Big 5 league outside of France. It got us thinking, which country produces the best coaches by nationality?
Is it Italy, with its highly tactical league? Or England, the inventors of the sport? How about Germany, with the largest population in Europe? Spain’s gotta be up there with the deepest league in Europe, right? Or maybe France, which just won the World Cup?
0 - French managers in each of the top 5 leagues at the moment :
Ligue 1 : 16Premier League : 0
Liga : 0
Serie A : 0
Bundesliga : 0
Outdated ? pic.twitter.com/2J8qvIptMV
— OptaJean (@OptaJean) February 26, 2019
Well, if you just look at the numbers of coaches by nationality in Europe’s Big 5 leagues, there are a few interesting takeaways.
First, no one wants English managers. Second, there’s no trendy country from which to hire managers right now.
Here’s a look at how each league is divided up by nationality of its coaches, up to date as of Leicester City hiring Brendan Rodgers.
Coaches By Nationality (Europe’s Big 5 Leagues)
English Premier League
- England: 4
- Spain: 4
- Italy: 2
- Portugal: 2
- Germany: 2
- Ireland: 1
- Norway: 1 (caretaker)
- Austria: 1
- Argentina: 1
- Chile: 1
- Northern Ireland: 1
Spanish LaLiga
- Spain: 16
- Argentina: 3
- Portugal: 1
German Bundesliga
- Germany: 13
- Hungary: 1
- Switzerland: 1
- Austria: 1
- Netherlands: 1
- Croatia: 1
Italian Serie A
- Italy: 19
- Serbia: 1
French Ligue 1
- French: 14
- Germany: 1
- Portugal: 1
- New Caledonia: 1
- Armenia: 1
- Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1
- Vacant: 1*
* — Bordeaux fired its Brazilian manager on Tuesday.
These numbers show a few things. First, outside of England, leagues predominantly hire domestic coaches, especially in Italy. Second, England is by far the most diverse in terms of where its coaches come from.
The numbers are even more interesting when looking only at foreign coaches.
Foreign Coaches By Nationality (Europe’s Big 5 Leagues)
- Spain: 4
- Portugal: 4
- Argentina: 4
- Germany: 3
- Italy: 2
- Austria: 2
- Netherlands, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Norway, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Switzerland, Chile, New Caledonia, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina: 1
- France: 0
- England: 0
Despite being home to the richest league in the world, a miniscule four English managers are currently coaching top-flight teams in Europe’s Big 5 leagues. None of them coach outside of England.
This is a bit surprising considering the amount of football played in England, but then again no English manager has ever won the Champions League in its current form. Of course, if you include all of the United Kingdom, these numbers change, but seeing as England competes as its own country in everything but the Olympics, that’s a moot point.
France interestingly also has no managers in the game outside of France. Both Arsene Wenger and Zinedine Zidane could easily be on this list, but both left their foreign posts after the 2017-18 season and have yet to take other jobs.
It wasn’t long ago that it seemed there were Italian coaches wherever you looked. While Chelsea is still in love with Italians, the only other Italian coaching outside of Italy is Fulham’s Claudio Rainieri, who wasn’t hired until November. And Chelsea’s Maurizio Sarri probably won’t be around much longer.
Spain, Portugal and Argentina lead the way for foreign coaches in the Big 5 leagues, even with Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho currently out of coaching. All four Spanish coaches outside of Spain are in the English Premier League while Portugal and Argentina are a bit more spread out.
Argentina and Germany are the only nationalities to appear in three of the five leagues.
It’s a bit surprising there aren’t more managers from the Netherlands and Brazil in Europe’s top leagues given the pedigree of the two nations. Brazil had one coach in the top five leagues, but Bordeaux fired Ricardo Gomes on Tuesday.
For the record, here’s how Major League Soccer and Liga MX stack up.
MLS Coaches By Nationality
- United States: 11
- England: 2
- Argentina: 2
- Netherlands: 1
- France: 1
- Serbia: 1
- South Africa: 1
- Colombia: 1
- Spain: 1
- Ireland: 1
- Venezuela: 1
- Canada: 1
Liga MX Coaches By Nationality
- Mexico: 8
- Argentina: 3
- Uruguay: 2
- Portugal: 1
- Brazil: 1
- Colombia: 1
- Paraguay: 1
- Vacant: 1*
* — Morelia’s coaching spot is currently vacant, having just fired Mexican Roberto Hernández.
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