Airtime and website pages are often devoted to player salaries. Less focus is placed on the wages of managers, aside from when clubs have to pay out vast sums after a firing.
The best managers are at least as significant as the top players when it comes to deciding the biggest football betting markets, however.
So, are managers paid as handsomely as the players they oversee? Well, no, they are not. But the best football managers in the world are still receiving hundreds of thousands for each season they work.
All figures courtesy of L'Équipe.
10) Simone Inzaghi - £543,370
Leaving Lazio for Inter in 2021, Simone Inzaghi won the Coppa Italia in his first season in charge and has led Inter to the last eight of the Champions League in 2022-23.
Inzaghi’s team are still in the midst of a tight battle for a top four spot domestically, with Napoli disappearing into the distance.
Under pressure with Inter struggling on the road, Inzaghi’s position is not entirely secure heading into the final couple of months of the 2022-23 season.
9) Julian Nagelsmann - £583,680
Much like Inzaghi, Julian Nagelsmann has faced questions about his future at points this term.
Bayern Munich have been involved in a competitive title race despite being massive sports betting favourites to extend their streak of Bundesliga titles when the season began.
Still only 35 years old, Nagelsmann is the youngest man on this list by a considerable margin. His earning potential is enormous, with potentially three-plus decades left at the top of football management.
How this Bayern stint plays out will go a long way to determining where Nagelsmann lands next. Real Madrid is a distinct possibility.
8) Jose Mourinho - £674,830
Hiring Jose Mourinho is not a guarantee of glory like it once was. Stints in Manchester and north London proved that.
Mourinho, though, remains a charismatic, influential figure in football management, and landed Roma’s first ever European trophy with the Conference League in 2021-22.
The Special One is still one of the best quotes in the sport, consistently outspoken, and a ferocious competitor.
7) Carlo Ancelotti - £797,520
In his second stint as Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti led a team to the Champions League trophy for a record fourth time in 2022.
Ancelotti is not an ideologue like many of his peers, nor does he have an intense personality which can grate on players.
The Italian is calm, a presence which seems to bring the best out of senior players and lend itself to deep Champions League ventures.
Beginning his managerial career way back in 1995 with Reggiana, Don Carlo has managed many of Europe’s superpowers, with a surprising stint at Everton slotted between spells in Naples and Madrid.
6) Brendan Rodgers - £861,500
Winner of an FA Cup, the Championship Playoffs and two Scottish Premiership titles, Brendan Rodgers’ CV doesn’t stack up favourably to the other managers featured here.
Rodgers signed a contract extension with Leicester just months after joining the club in 2019.
His tenure at the King Power Stadium is longer than many others listed, and his high salary speaks to just how much money is in the Premier League compared to Europe’s other leading nations.
5) Maximilliano Allegri - £1,030,000
Returning to Juventus in 2021 after a two-year break from management, Maximilliano Allegri is the first manager to break the million mark.
The 55-year-old was a journeyman in his playing days, but through a four-year spell with Milan and a trophy-laden first stint with Juventus, he has built a reputation as one of the top managers in world football.
The 2022-23 season was derailed by a points deduction, but Juve were already off the pace set by Napoli and suffered a premature Champions League exit. Zinedine Zidane has long been linked with the job in Turin.
4) Antonio Conte - £1,310,000
Antonio Conte immediately delivered for Tottenham in 2021-22, pushing the Lilywhites into the top four.
The Italian is a short-term manager, though, and the second season has been awkward in north London with turgid football and inconsistent results.
Clubs are paying for that quick impact with Conte. It worked for Chelsea and Inter. Long-term plans are not part of his approach.
3) Jurgen Klopp - £1,310,000
Winner of the Champions League and the man who disrupted Manchester City’s dominance to end Liverpool’s league title drought, Jurgen Klopp is a hero at Anfield. His Heavy Metal Football has provided entertainment for Kopites and neutrals alike.
Klopp unquestionably deserves to be in the top three. In Dortmund and Liverpool, his football has been thrilling and the results have largely been impressive.
The 2022-23 season has been his most testing yet on Merseyside, however, and there are murmurs he might move on after nearly eight years at Anfield.
2) Pep Guardiola - £1,660,000
The highest-paid football manager in the Premier League and the second highest-paid manager in the world, Pep Guardiola has led Manchester City to the most successful period in the club’s history.
Guardiola and City have claimed the majority of Premier League records, scoring goals at an unprecedented rate and setting a new standard for what it takes to win the title.
The Spaniard is already one of the most influential managers in football history. His Champions League record is the only area vulnerable to criticism.
1) Diego Simeone - £2,920,000
According to the leaked figures, Diego Simeone receives the largest salary of any football manager by an absolute mile. He is not far off double the figure of second place.
Simeone might not have had the tactical impact or sustained success of Guardiola, yet he is synonymous with Atletico Madrid.
Taking over at the club back in 2011, Simeone has had an incredibly long tenure by the standards of modern football, delivering silverware and breaking up the Real and Barcelona duopoly.
Atleti have fallen over the last couple of seasons, and there is a growing sense Simeone’s stint in charge is coming to an end. For over a decade, though, Atletico have been a representation of his personality for better or worse.
Previous Highest Paid Premier League Managers (2020/21):
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Pep Guardiola (£20 million)
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Jurgen Klopp (£15 million)
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Jose Mourinho (£15 million)
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Carlo Ancelotti (£11 million)
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Frank Lampard (£8 million)
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Marcelo Bielsa (£8 million)
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Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (£7.8 million)
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Mikel Arteta (£5 million)
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Brendan Rodgers (£5 million)
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Roy Hodgson (£4.5 million)
*Credit for the main photo belongs to Dave Thompson / AP Photo*
