Good coaches/managers are hard to find, as the prerequisites of coaching a football team require a distinct knowledge of the game as well as having the tactical prowess to approach games.
Managers such as Jose Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Jurgen Kloop, and a few of those who are in their class have all enjoyed great adulation from both the fans and the media.
While those who are silently and impressively doing their job in the dugout ain’t getting enough praise, while the aforementioned managers have name recognition, dozens of coaches toil in relative obscurity while producing excellent results.
Some managers are overlooked because either they were successful but never won a major championship, UEFA Champions League, and were not as notable as other coaches or managers that led the same or they simply didn’t have an unforgettable personality.
Here are 7 of Europe’s most underrated coaches
- Lucian Favre – (Borrusia Dortmund, Switzerland)
Favre is an experienced manager who knows the rudiments of managing a football team in and out. He’s also well known for his dynamic pressing style of play combined with his great attitude of managing big egos in his team.
The former Swiss international may not be as vocal as Mourinho or have a colored resume that highlights the multiple trophies he has won but he’s also a decent manager every employer could bank on to deliver.
The Borussia Dortmund gaffer began his managerial career in Switzerland, where he won two Swiss Cup with FC Zurich and also won the Manager of the Year in the Swiss Super League twice.
Under his tutelage, Zurich 25 year wait for a league title ended when he led the team to a dramatic final day triumph over FC Basel to win the league, which also cumulated into winning the Manager of the Year.
Favre has been able to impress his critics with his ability to handle all of the teams he has managed perfectly, even when they expected him to fail.
Talking of success, he did achieve relatively something great for Borussia Monchengladbach when he was appointed in 2011, taking over a team that was sitting comfortably at the bottom of the league with only 16 points after 22 matches in the league and seven-point adrift of safety.
With a very stringent transfer project at Monchengladbach, Favre was able to revive the team the following season and surpassed all expectations by finishing fourth on the Bundesliga table, which also cumulated in qualifying the side for the 2012-13 UEFA Champions League.
Favre is currently managing the Signal Iduna Parkside, as he continues to show that he’s one of Europe’s finest manager, which is quite evident with the way his team plays and also give credence to how brilliant he is tactical. He may not have won the most coveted European club football title. However, Favre is no doubt one of the decent coaches around who don’t often get a lot of praise.
- Marcelino Garcia Toral – (Unattached, Spain)
Marcelino is regarded as a brilliant manager by many fans and one that could guarantee a team title if given the right support and chance to work. The former Villarreal coach is currently unattached, but the event has shown he’s one of Europe’s underrated managers that could deliver when called upon, and without doubt, he’s among the most sought manager currently out of job.
The former Spain U21 handler may be out of a job since 2019. However, his past achievements keep giving credence to the fact that he’s a brilliant manager who doesn’t get enough recognition, unlike his colleagues.
Among some of the achievements he has had with Villarreal, a team he joined in 2013 as a relegated team playing in the Segunda Division. Following his appointment with the Yellow Submarine side, he turned around the fortunes of the team in three seasons and Villarreal finished in the European places in all three seasons under his supervision.
A fantastic achievement for a side that has been relegated the same season he took over before he now brought them back to the topflight.
Marcelino also had a host of spells in the Spanish second and third divisions respectively, notably with Real Zaragoza and Racing Santander, the team he also turned out for as a player.
- Brenden Rodgers – (Leicester City, Northern Ireland)
Rodgers has not only grown into one of the most exciting, brilliant, and respected managers in the Premier League, he has grown into one of the finest managers in the world for his tactical skillset and swashbuckling kind of football with every team he’s been able to manage.
The former Swansea manager kicked start his managerial career as a young coach still learning the ropes in 2004 when he was spotted by Jose Mourinho to come to handle Chelsea’s academy team under the reign of Abramovich’s takeover.
Rodgers was so good that it didn’t take long before he made it into professional management with Watford in the Championship, having taken over from Malky Mackay, and guided the team to 13th position in his first season.
Thereafter he joined Swansea City in 2009, where he made a name for himself, having guided the team to third place in the Championship, and also won the playoffs which led them into the Premier League in his first season with the side.
The following season Swansea finished the campaign in 11th position, an achievement that attracted a lot of suitors to him bearing in mind that a newly promoted team more often than not usually doesn’t find it so easy to play in the topflight. However, surprisingly under Rodgers they performed brilliantly and won big matches against eventual title winners Manchester City, Liverpool, and Arsenal.
His ever impressive, attractive, and consistent free-flowing football style didn’t go unnoticed. He landed the Liverpool job in 2012 following the dismissal of Kenny Dalglish, having been regarded as one of the brilliant managers in British football. Rodgers was tasked to resuscitate the low confidence of the Liverpool team and to also return them back to the heights of English and European football.
Although Rodgers couldn’t win the league for the Kop, despite having one of the most glaring opportunities to achieve that feat with Liverpool in the 2013-14 campaign, with Luis Suarez firing from all cylinders, and ended the league as the team top goalscorer in all competitions.
During those periods, signs of his attractive playing style were evident in the team and Liverpool finished second competing for the title until the last game of the season.
Following his dismissal at Anfield, he left for Celtic in 2016 where he went on to dominate the Scottish league, winning seven domestic trophies, before he left for Leicester City in 2019 where he has also continued his tactical prowess.
READ ALSO: Top 5 Managers Sitting On A Keg Of Gunpowder
- Ernesto Valverde – (Unattached, Spain)
The former Barcelona coach has been without a job, although he is seen as the possible candidate for the Basque club for a possible third stint.
For some football enthusiasts who really don’t know about the trajectory of Valverde, he came out of a year sabbatical to take up the Espanyol job in 2006 and he dragged them to the final of the UEFA Cup in 2007, which Espanyol eventually lost to eventual winner Sevilla in Glasgow.
He left for the Greek giants in 2008 to further continue upgrading his resume with Olympiacos. On getting to Greece in his first season he won the league and cup double for the Athens side, before leaving for Villarreal for a short spell in Spain.
Valverde returned to Greece to be in charge of Olympiacos for his second spell, and he yet again achieved success with the Greek giants with two league titles and one Greek Cup.
In 2013 he returned to Athletic Bilbao, qualifying for the Champions League in his first year and also reaching the final of the 2015 Spanish Cup. In 2015-16 he helped the Basque team to their first trophy in 31 years following their triumph over Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup, and also took them to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa League.
His career at Camp Nou may not have ended the way he wanted when he was sent packing. However, the former Bilbao gaffer will always look back at his stint with the Catalan side and feel proud of himself, having won four trophies, two league titles, one Copa Del Rey, and the Supercopa de Espana.
Valverde as a manager has been able to achieve 213 La Liga games won in his career, an impressive feat that ranks him fifth among managers who have achieved such.
- Julian Nagelsman – (RB Leipzig, Germany)
At age 33, Nagelsman became the youngest manager to win a UEFA Champions League knockout tie, leading his team to their first-ever semi-final in the biggest European club competition.
Nagelsman’s success so far as a manager wouldn’t have been possible if not for the high risk some of the Bundesliga clubs give to young managers to showcase what they’ve got.
This was clearly evident when a young and inexperience Ralph Hasenhuttl promoted Ingolstadt to the topflight, and also went on to set a record with RB Leipzig, securing the highest point which has never been secured by a newly promoted team when he led them to second place in the 2016-17 campaign.
The ‘Baby Mourinho’ as he is fondly called was first appointed as the head coach of 1899 Hoffenheim in 2015 but took over officially when Huub Stevens stepped down from his role as head coach, as when he resumed duty he became the youngest ever permanent manager in the history of the league at the age of 28.
The most talked-about and one of the best managers in Germany now didn’t even have the licenses required to lead the team but was given the green light by the German Football Authority to manage Hoffenheim.
Despite his appointment being mocked all over the country by critics, he managed to help the village club avoid relegation finishing 15th, and since then he’s grown from strength to strength with his managerial career at RB Leipzig, leading a side that plays a swashbuckling brand of football in Europe.
- Thomas Tuchel – (Paris Saint Germain, Germany)
Like Nagelsman, like Tuchel, the German tactician began his managerial career in Germany with Mainz, one of the decent football teams in Germany that helped him hone his craft as a manager.
Tuchel’s time came when he was appointed to lead Mainz as a manager in 2009 at age 36 after being behind the bar as a barman. He was brought in following the dismissal of his predecessors Jorn Andersen, who couldn’t qualify the team from the first round DFB Cup lost to lower league side VFB Lubeck.
Following his appointment, despite Mainz just recently being promoted to the top flight, he steered the team to the ninth position in his debut season. In his second season, he earned Mainz a place at the top of the table and got them to play in the UEFA Europa League for the first time in the history of the club after finishing the 2011-12 league season in fifth position.
During his time at Mainz, Thomas Tuchel earned himself a reputation as one of German football’s most tactically brilliant young managers, and he also remains the most successful coach even ahead of Kloop in Mainz’s history with 1.41 per game won, compared to Kloop’s 1.13 per game in the 2005-06 season.
READ ALSO: Waiting In The Wings: Top 10 Managers Without A Job
His impressive performances got him the Borussia Dortmund job after a year of sabbatical leave, he replaced Jurgen Kloop at the Signal Iduna Park. Tuchel didn’t waste much time in achieving success with Dortmund, he helped the Die Schwarzgelbe finish runners-up in 2015-16.
He also took them to the DFB Cup glory the following year, plus setting a record in the history of Dortmund with an average of 2.09 points per game, until current manager Lucien Favre came to town and broke the record with 2.11
His stint only lasted two seasons at the Signal Iduna Park and since he has gone on to join Paris Saint Germain, where he won his first Ligue 1 title in his maiden season which cumulated into many more trophies after that.
Despite the fact that he took the French side to the final of the Champions League against Bayern Munich last season which they lost narrowly to the German giant, critics still don’t regard him as one of Europe’s finest managers.
- Gian Piero Gasperini – (Atalanta, Italy)
Gasp’s attacking style of play has not only seen his team dispatch bigger teams but has also dealt with smaller teams both in Seria A and Europe.
Gasperini may not be as young as some of the new generation managers in football, but he is arguably one of the best managers in football and certainly a revolutionary manager doing impressive work with the Bergamo side since he arrived in 2016-17 season from Genoa.
The former Genoa manager attacking the front three of Zapata, IIicic, and Papu Gomez is no doubt three of Seria A’s best-attacking players, which is evident in all of the matches and with the total of goals they’ve scored combined.
When Gasp was appointed in 2017, the objective of Atalanta was to avoid the drop, surprisingly he took Atalanta into the mid-table for the first time in over two decades which led The Goddess to play in Europe.
Although Gasperini has had his ups and downs as a manager with Inter Milan. During those torrid times with Inter, his methods and tactics were constantly criticized by the fans and within a year he was dismissed after a poor run of results.
He returned to Genoa, following a short stint at Palermo before he eventually left for Bergamo where he was seen as the right candidate to maintain their Seria A status. And since then, the Bergamo club stories both in Italy and Europe has changed for good, with their free-flowing style of play and results-wise on the pitch.
Gasperini, may not be well revered like of Mourinho’s or Klopp’s, but then he’s no doubt one of Europe’s brilliant coaches.
