This has been a year for both the elite tactical masterminds and man-managers, but who achieved the most relative to the resources at their disposal?
So there we have it! The five champions of Europe's major leagues have all been confirmed: Liverpool, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. Arne Slot, Hansi Flick, Antonio Conte, Vincent Kompany and Luis Enrique all made a piece of history at those respective clubs, and each of them now holds a special place in the hearts of supporters as a result.
However, those five men were by no means the only coaches in Europe to impress over the last 12 months. Oliver Glasner, Eddie Howe, Vincenzo Italiano and Sebastian Hoeness ended agonisingly long trophy droughts for Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Bologna and Stuttgart, respectively, as the so-called lesser clubs got one over on the elite for a change in the domestic cups.
Some of the standout managers didn't even lift any silverware, they simply made fans believe again. Nuno Espirito Santo falls into that bracket after bringing Nottingham Forest back into Europe, and so too do Claudio Ranieri and Nico Kovac, who were both tasked with daunting mid-season salvage jobs and ended up exceeding all expectations.
The question is: who should go down as the best manager of the 2024-25 European season? GOAL ranks the top 10 contenders below…
Imago Images10Niko Kovac (Borussia Dortmund)
When Kovac was appointed Borussia Dortmund boss on January 29, the team had slipped to 11th in the Bundesliga table with just seven wins from 19 games, and sat 22 points behind leaders and arch-rivals Bayern Munich. His predecessor, Nuri Sahin, had overseen progress into the Champions League knockout rounds, but the first half of the season was unquestionably a disaster for a club the size of BVB.
The tide did not immediately turn under Kovac, either, as the new manager lost four of his first six league matches in the dugout and a top-four finish faded into the distance. But, crucially, the Croatian then ditched Sahin's 4-2-3-1 formation for a 3-4-3, which made Dortmund far more cohesive as a defensive unit, and results subsequently began to improve.
Changing Dortmund's setup also sparked the forward line into life, with Serhou Guirassy, in particular, going goal crazy. Dortmund won seven and drew one of their final eight Bundesliga fixtures, scoring 26 goals, and clinched fourth place ahead of Freiburg on the final day of the season.
Kovac didn't just pull the club out of a crisis, he turned Dortmund into one of the most effective transition sides in Europe, as we also saw during their run to the Champions League quarter-finals that they can still mix it with Europe's elite. Suddenly, the future looks bright again for the Yellow and Blacks, and, as resurgent BVB forward Karim Adeyemi so eloquently put it, that's all because of the "kick in the ass" Kovac provided.
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport9Nuno Espirito Santo (Nottingham Forest)
What a job Nuno has done at Nottingham Forest! He didn't get enough plaudits for keeping the club in the Premier League after walking into a dire situation midway through the 2023-24 campaign, and most outsiders expected another relegation battle this time around.
But Nuno had a plan for rapid growth and has executed it flawlessly. After strengthening with the summer additions of Nikola Milenkovic, Elliot Anderson and Morato, Forest quickly rose into top-four contention playing an effective brand of counter-attacking football that allowed Chris Wood, Anthony Elanga, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Morgan Gibbs-White to flourish in the final third.
Forest's Champions League bid ran out of steam down the finishing stretch, but a Conference League berth for 2025-26 should not be sniffed at. The City Ground faithful hasn't seen any continental action in 30 years, and Nuno has cemented a place in Forest's Hall of Fame for bringing the team to this point so quickly – even if he ends up leaving amid reports of a breakdown in relations with controversial owner Evangelos Marinakis.
Getty Images Sport8Claudio Ranieri (Roma)
Former Leicester City manager Ranieri's reputation as a miracle-worker precedes him wherever he goes – that's what happens when you guide 1000-1 underdogs to a Premier League title. The Italian also performed the great escape with Cagliari in 2023-24 to end his career on a high, only for him to reverse his retirement decision six months later.
That's because Ranieri's beloved Roma were in dire straits, and he couldn't just sit back and do nothing. He returned to Stadio Olimpico for a third spell in charge in November, at which point the Giallorossi were down in 12th in Serie A, with both Daniele De Rossi and Ivan Juric paying the ultimate price for club's worst start to a season since 1979.
Bringing Ranieri back felt like an act of desperation at the time, and three losses in his first four games only fuelled that narrative. But he soon started to get the best out of Roma's biggest stars, most notably Mats Hummels, Leandro Paredes, Gianluca Mancini, and Matias Soule, and the team embarked on a thrilling 19-game unbeaten run in Serie A that ran from December 15 to May 12.
Incredibly, Roma went into the last day of the season knowing a top-four finish would be theirs if they beat Torino and Juventus failed to secure a win at Venezia. Ranieri's men did their job, but, in the end, so did Juve to leave the Olimpico faithful deflated. Make no mistake, though, Ranieri is still going back into retirement as a hero; at 73 years old, he defied all the odds again and reminded the entire world of his unparalleled skills as a man motivator.
AFP7Oliver Glasner (Crystal Palace)
Glasner made an instant impact at Palace after replacing Roy Hodgson in February of last year, winning seven of his first 13 Premier League games to steer the team to an unlikely 10th-place finish. But then the German saw the core of his team ripped out as Michael Olise, Jordan Ayew, and Joachim Andersen all departed in the summer transfer window.
Palace were able to bring in Eddie Nketiah, Maxence Lacroix, and Ismaila Sarr to fill those positions in time for the new season, but they still plummeted to the bottom of the table after eight matches, and Glasner faced uncomfortable questions over his future. CEO Steve Parish and the rest of the Eagles board resisted the urge to pull the trigger, though, and were soon rewarded for their patience.
After the turn of the year, Palace picked up eight Premier League wins, a total matched only by champions Liverpool, to pull well clear of danger. In fact, Glasner's side weren't too far away from the European spots, which was amazing considering they also put in a herculean effort to reach the FA Cup final, despatching Fulham and Aston Villa along the way.
The Eagles then pulled off one of the competition's greatest-ever upsets in the Wembley showpiece as they downed Manchester City courtesy of a wonderful breakaway goal from Eberechi Eze. Glasner became an instant immortal for delivering Palace's first-ever major trophy, and it could be the start of something very special if he stays for their 2025-26 Europa League campaign, because his team are now a high-octane powerhouse capable of going toe-to-toe with the very best.