The list of the highest paid soccer managers in the world consists of four from the English Premier League (Manuel Pellegrini, David Moyes, Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho) two from the German Bundesliga (Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola), two from the Spanish La Liga (Carlo Ancelotti, Gerardo Martino), one from China (Marcello Lippi) and one managing a national team (Fabio Capello).
The list,Ā provided by a Brazilian sports business company Pluri Consultoria, shows that the highest paid managers in Ligue 1 are as expected coaching PSG (Laurent Blanc, 18th overall) and Monaco (Claudio Ranieri), both makingĀ ā¬3 million a year. In Italy, Rafa Benitez of Napoli is the highest paid coach, while it’s surprising to see Jorge Jesus of Benfica being 11th overall, makingĀ ā¬4 million a season.
10th – Manchester City, Manuel Pellegrini –Ā ā¬4.1 million
Pellegrini moved up six spots in comparison with last season, making his way from Malaga to Manchester City over the summer, taking over a project that’s far less likely to go belly up. So far he’s doing well in the league as long as it’s not away matches, but his biggest achievement has been taking City to the round of 16 in the Champions League for the very first time, including a road win over Bayern Munich in the group stage.
9th – Jurgen Klopp, Borussia Dortmund –Ā ā¬4.3 million
If Dortmund’s season doesn’t get a significant boost, we’ll see Klopp once again appearing on plenty of shortlists in the summer. The 46-year old is having a rough time with an injury-plagued Dortmund side that’s getting further and further away from Bayern Munich, although they did manage to finish first in their group of death in the Champions League, and beat Bayern to claim the German Super Cup.
8th – Gerardo Martino, FC Barcelona –Ā ā¬5.4 million
One of the most surprising signings this summer, Martino came from Newell’s after Villanova couldn’t cope with both cancer treatments and managing the club. Barcelona finished first in their UCL group and are leading (by goal difference) in the La Liga, but not everyone is pleased with Martino’s tactics and lineup selections, while he has to deal with Lionel Messi being injured until 2014.
7th – David Moyes, Manchester United –Ā ā¬5.9 million
Moyes makes a nine spot jump thanks to moving on from Everton to Old Trafford. Despite the increase in exposure and wealth, it hasn’t helped him professionally. Everton are better without him, while the Red Devils are only ninth in the Premier League, quite a long distance from a title challenge or a Champions League spot. He did make it into the round of 16 in the UCL, but it’s going to take a strong January transfer window to erase the disappointing one from the summer.
6th – Carlo Ancelotti, Real Madrid –Ā ā¬7.5 million
Ancelotti hasn’t been doing too great with Real Madrid, as they are third in the La Liga (behind Atletico and Barcelona), although his Champions League group stage was nearly flawless. He is struggling with tactics and defense, but brings a wealth of experience and titles – championships with PSG and Chelsea, and maybe most importantly, his two UCL titles with AC Milan.
5th – Fabio Capello, Russia –Ā ā¬7.8 million
Capello hasn’t managed a club since 2007, when he won the championship with Real Madrid. He has been the Russia manager since 2012, taking over after they failed to make it out of the group stage in Euro 2012. He led the team to a first-place finish, above Portugal, in the qualifying group to the 2014 World Cup. Russia haven’t been to the tournament since 2002, and have never made it past the group stage since their USSR days.
4th – Arsene Wenger, Arsenal –Ā ā¬8.3 million
Is this the year Arsenal finally win a title? Wenger spent a lot of money, finally, on Mesut Ozil, which has helped him lead the league in England, although things might be slowly beginning to unravel, with the team almost knocked out on the final day in the Champions League.
3rd –Ā Marcello Lippi,Ā Guangzhou Evergrande –Ā ā¬10 million
Lippi, a World Champions and Champions League winner has recently becomeĀ the only coach to have won the most prestigious international competitions both for clubs in different continents, adding the 2013 AFC Champions League trophy to go with his two league titles in China.
2nd – Jose Mourinho, Chelsea FC –Ā ā¬10.3 million
The second run for Jose Mourinho with Chelsea is proving to be more difficult than the first. He is third in the Premier League with less points than he’s used to getting at this stage of the season, and lost two matches to Basel in the Champions League group stage. Recently he was knocked out of the League Cup by Sunderland, making things a bit more tense for him at Stamford Bridge.
1st – Pep Guardiola, Bayern Munich –Ā ā¬17 million
Does it really take such an expensive manager to lead such a talented and decorated group? Bayern Munich might have started out a little slowly, with many complaining about the tactics Guardiola was using. However, it’s hard to argue with results the moment injuries stopped getting in the way – first in the league, best in the Champions League group stage.