A ranking of the best managers in Serie A right now in 2025, based solely on current coaching quality.
5. Claudio Ranieri, Roma
Claudio Ranieri took over from stopgap coach Ivan Juric (now at Juventus, interestingly enough) in November for a Roma side that was seemingly doomed following their dismissal of club legend Daniele De Rossi, who had already replaced another great coach in Jose Mourinho.
Both the Mourinho and De Rossi firings were wildly unpopular with Roma fans, as both coaches were beloved by the Giallorossi faithful and had shown that they could be the right men to lead Roma.
In his third stint with Roma, the latest club icon to take the reins has quickly turned things around in the capital, and Roma are now ahead of local rivals Lazio. They have been impressive with their results despite a sea of underperforming players, proving that the architect of the Leicester City miracle still has the magic touch.
4. Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta
Gian Piero Gasperini can run himself into trouble with his mouth, because he’s had quite a few high-profile spats with his very best player, including a brief one this season with breakout superstar forward Ademola Lookman.
Ownership has evidently nipped that squabble in the bud, and while Atalanta probably won’t win Serie A this season, they are very much still in contention and have Gasperini to thank for their continued success – and beautiful attacking football.
Under Gasperini, Atalanta are spearheaded by one of Europe’s most formidable striking tridents in Charles De Ketelaere, Capcannoniere favorite Mateo Retegui, and Lookman. By the way, that’s after losing the silky smooth Gianluca Scamacca to season-ending injury.
3. Antonio Conte, Napoli
It’s been a handful of years since Antonio Conte last won a league title, bringing Inter Milan back to the summit of Serie A to break up the Scudetto hegemony at Juventus that he himself created to start the 2010s.
Napoli won Serie A for the first time since the heyday of Diego Armanda Maradona in the 2022/23 season behind the attacking duo of Victor Osimhen and Khivhca “Kvaradona” Kvaratskhelia in front of a genuinely world-class side.
Luciano Spalletti’s exit led way to an embarrassing coaching carousel and a season so bad that Napoli missed out on European football entirely. That will not be the case for Conte this season, and even if Napoli don’t win the Serie A title this season, the 2024/25 campaign has to be considered a rousing bounce-back success for the former Italian national team manager.
Conte has brought discipline back to a Napoli side that is overperforming their level of talent in the squad, especially with Kvaratskhelia in Paris and Osimhen in Turkey.
2. Vincenzo Italiano, Bologna
And yet if you ask me, Vincenzo Italiano has him beat. Italiano is the most underrated manager in world football, and he’s even more underrated than the guy first on this list simply because I doubt half as many people have even heard his name before.
Italiano first became a cult legend in Serie A in 2019 when he brought Spezia up to the summit of Italian football and somehow, against all odds, kept them there for a couple of seasons before bouncing to Fiorentina.
He laid the groundwork for the success currently being experienced in Firenze, and while the Viola are still Champions League contenders, they have now found themselves behind Italiano, who occupies fourth.
After Thiago Motta left Bologna for Juventus and both Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori bolted for the Premier League, few thought Bologna could repeat the trick as a top-five side in Italian football.
Right now, Italiano has bettered that with Bologna sitting fourth in a much more competitive Serie A this season. Better yet, Italiano is ahead of Juventus, who are fresh off firing Motta after the former Italian national team midfielder fell out with the locker room.
Italiano produces some of the most aesthetically pleasing football in Serie A, and he’s shown at Bologna, just as he did at Spezia and Fiorentina, that he can win with any style or any set of players.
1. Simone Inzaghi, Inter Milan
Simone Inzaghi has risen above all the more established names in Italian football to become THE best coach in Italy, and you can make a strong case for him being the best coach in the world.
I’d actually have him above Carlo Ancelotti right now in terms of pure coaching ability and behind only Hansi Flick, with Inzaghi honestly occupying a tier somewhere alongside Julian Nagelsmann and Xabi Alonso.
Inzaghi isn’t an up-and-coming manager at this point, though. He’s already arrived. Inzaghi has turned Inter into the best team in Serie A, bar none, as they are overwhelming favorites to become the first team since the 2010s Juventus to capture back-to-back Scudetti. And he could still capture a second Coppa Italia.
A former Champions League finalist, Inzaghi’s Inter are also among the quarterfinalists this year with a good chance at knocking off Bayern Munich. Inzaghi’s teams get stronger as the season goes on, and they are very consistent.
He brings discipline in the midfield, steady defense, and has established a striker rotation that is pronged in the XI but can add more bite with options off the bench.
One of the few managers in the modern game who knows how to fully take advantage of the five-substitution rule, Inzaghi’s early attacking subs keep Inter dangerous, including on the wings, where he is the best coach in the world at maximizing attacking fullbacks to impact the final score of the game.
Joe Soriano covers West Ham for Green Street Hammers and writes about Real Madrid for The Real Champs. He has extensive experience covering world football since 2014. Joe is an editor for The Trivela Effect, where he covers the biggest clubs in European football. He has watched professional sports regularly since 2002 and can be found playing the same sports he covers with his friends.