Many of the most acclaimed managers in world football have made their names in Serie A. From Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid to current Tottenham manager Antonio Conte (formerly of Chelsea), there are plenty of former Serie A managers who have found success abroad.
There are even those who excelled in Serie A, left for successful stints elsewhere, and are back in Calcio as elite managers, Maurizio Sarri and the incomparable José Mourinho come to mind here.
But who are the current best managers in Serie A? Where do the likes of Sarri and Mourinho stack up among the top managers in the league in 2023?
Before I continue, though, I would like to give an honorable mention to Simone Inzaghi. He has done great things for Inter Milan and was an absolute star while in charge of Lazio. But he has to just miss out on this list.
5. Stefano Pioli, AC Milan
Stefano Pioli has AC Milan in second despite recent struggles, doing his best to elevate a side that seems entirely reliant on superstar Rafael Leão for attacking inspiration.
But Pioli gets massive credit for not only bringing the Scudetto back to the Rossoneri in an incredible 2021/22 season, but also for pulling Milan out of the doldrums with a slow and steady rebuild. Milan are one of the most historic clubs in Europe, and they are finally back among the top clubs in the continent, thanks to Pioli.
The best thing about Pioli is his ability to believe in young players and to get them to be at their best. Leão is one such example, but Pioli’s biggest successes have been midfielders. Sandro Tonali is starting to fulfill his potential, Ismaël Bennacer is legitimately world-class despite the lack of plaudits, and Franck Kessié made his name in Milano before moving to Barcelona.
So why is such a strong player-oriented and tactical manager only fifth on the list?
Because the names ahead of him have established even more credibility over the years with plenty of recent success to back on, too.
4. Maurizio Sarri, Lazio
As with Stefano Pioli, Maurizio Sarri is only in fourth because the managers ahead of him are just so incredibly good.
Because Sarri is an elite manager in his own right. He produced some of the most exciting football Serie A has seen in recent years while at Napoli, bringing the world #SarriBall. The way he used the likes of José Callejón (those backdoor runs were vicious), Lorenzo Insigne, and Dries Mertens was beyond words. And who can forget about Jorginho? A phenom in midfield we may have never witnessed without the cigarette-smoking wizard.
Sarri moved, with Jorginho, to win the Premier League with Chelsea. He was controversial to some but still brought beautiful football to London and was effective, working well with superstar winger Eden Hazard.
Then he returned to Italy to manage Juventus, and though he lasted just one year because of differences in philosophy, Sarri got the job done. Sarri is the last manager to have won Serie A for Juventus. The signs of Juve’s decline were already there, but Sarri was able to win the Scudetto in spite of the serious issues in the squad. He did so by playing the opposite football of what he did in Naples, bringing a “boring” and pragmatic approach to help Juve win the title by any means necessary.
Now, Sarri is in the capital of Italy with Lazio, and he has the Biancocelesti in position to qualify for the Champions League. Sarri is bringing the best out of so many players at all levels of the squad, including left winger Mattia Zaccagni. Always an effective player in Serie A, even before joining Lazio as a star for Verona, the wide man has legitimately been one of the league’s best players this season under Sarri.
Some people don’t like Sarri or his style, but his passing game, recycling of possession, and patience eventually yield beautiful results if you stick by it. Juve didn’t trust the process, but Lazio appear to be doing the opposite. And it looks like it is paying off. Look no further than what Sarri did to Pioli’s Milan head-to-head.
3. Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta
Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini has been an icon since taking over in 2016. His innovative, flexible tactical setup has helped La Dea forge one of the most exciting attacking sides in world football, and he has seamlessly integrated young players and new transfer into a team with key veterans.
Though Atalanta’s success has waned in the last couple of seasons – they missed out on European football last season and are “only” sixth in 2022/23 – what Gasperini has done with the Bergamo-based club is nothing short of incredible.
Before Gasperini took over in 2016/17, Atalanta were an afterthought. Since moving back up to Serie A, they were in the bottom half of the table for five straight seasons. There was no indication they would become a heavyweight in European football, capable of striking fear into then-Juventus president Andrea Agnelli.
But in just his first season at the helm, the former Juventus youth player had La Dea fourth in the table. It is one of the most incredible managerial feats in the modern game.
He was only getting started. Atalanta qualified for the Europa League in the next season and then went on to make it to the Champions League for three straight seasons, hanging with the likes of Real Madrid. Gasperini brought the world stars like Papu Gómez, Andrea Conti, Mattia Caldara, Rafael Tolói, Remo Freuler, Leonardo Spinazzola, and Franck Kessié in his first season. Even Alessandro Bastoni was in the squad!
Yes, Gasperini owes a lot of credit to the organizational structure and scouting system in Bergamo, but that system would not be able to succeed so often, year after year, without Gasperini. He is very much part of that system, too. It is no coincidence that after his hiring, Atalanta became one of Europe’s top sides, having previously been a mid-table side at best.
2. José Mourinho, Roma
José Mourinho is one of the greatest managers of all time. Anointed the “Special One” after a deliberately misinterpreted press conference statement in which he defended his incredible accomplishments to an unwise press core, Mourinho has done it all as a manager. He won the Champions League with Porto, turned Chelsea into a dominant force, and had one of the all-time great attacking seasons at Real Madrid.
But I am leaving out an important accomplishment. Before moving to Madrid, Mourinho brought the treble to Inter Milan, becoming the first and only manager to win a treble in Calcio. He did so by knocking out some of the world’s most dynastic clubs in that Champions League, Barcelona and Bayern München.
After being disrespected again in England while at the totally dysfunctional Manchester United and Tottenham, Mourinho returned to a country that has always respected him, Italy.
The Roma job is not an easy one. It is filled with pressure and expectations despite years of heartache. And already, Mourinho is a beloved figure, steering Roma to greater heights and turning an out-of-sorts side into one that looks like they will be in European football every year.
Quietly, Roma have climbed back up to fifth in the table after a disappointing start to the season, and they are only one point behind second-place Milan.
Mourinho is as accomplished as any manager in football history, and he is currently still one of the best managers in the world. Yes, his motivational tactics are unorthodox and often abrasive, but the results speak for themselves. He is an elite manager.
1. Luciano Spalletti, Napoli
Yet the No. 1 manager in Serie A right now at this very moment is Napoli’s Luciano Spalletti.
A respected name within Italian football circles for years, Spalletti has now become a household name in European football by turning Napoli into the clear Scudetto favorites, 11 points ahead of the competition. Years of “almosts” made fans skeptical of the Partenopei, but after they decimated Juventus 5-1, you could tell something special was in the air.
Spalletti isn’t married to a specific structure, using principles that he changes based on the opponents and morphs to the incredibly talented players in his squad. Like any truly great manager, Spalletti is able to pinpoint the strengths of his players and create a system that is built on those strengths, accentuating them.
A perfect modern manager, Spalletti is relaxed, allowing his players to express themselves on the pitch to their fullest abilities instead of being overbearing. He lets them be free, and they fight for him in every match with all their hearts.
Spalletti is dominating the competition because of his ability to see the bigger picture. Before the Napoli job, he managed Inter Milan, Roma, Udinese, and several other Serie A clubs over the years.
One of the most celebrated managers in recent Italian football history, Spalletti has truly broken out as a global star-level of manager in 2022/23 with Napoli. And it’s no fluke. It is the culmination of years of hard work to become one of the very best at his craft. A two-time Serie A Coach of the Year winner in the mid-2000’s and two-time Coppa Italia winner with Roma, Spalletti was always a great manager, especially in a Serie A context. He is now back to being the best in the country and, indeed, one of the best in the world.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.