The 11 highest paid football managers in the world | OneFootball
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onefootball.comHere are the latest notable figures and recent developments on highest-paid football managers.
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Global leaders (as of 2025–2026): Diego Simeone continues to top many lists, with reported total compensation around the low-to-mid €30s million per year in several sources, driven by long-term contracts at Atlético Madrid. Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta are consistently in the top tier, often reported in the high tens of millions to around €20–26 million annually depending on the source and currency adjustments. These figures reflect salary plus bonuses and incentives rather than purely base pay. [Sources vary by publication; see recent annual tallies from Front Office Sports and similar outlets.]
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Premier League landscape: In 2025–2026, Pep Guardiola remains among the highest earners in English football, with annual compensation frequently quoted in the high single-digit to low double-digit in millions of pounds/euros after bonuses, while Mikel Arteta and David Moyes also feature prominently in top-20 rankings across reputable outlets. The exact ranking and amount can shift with new contracts and performance-based pay. [Latest league-wide summaries from Front Office Sports and regional outlets.]
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Notable shifts: Some managers who moved to clubs in the Middle East or Asia (e.g., Stefano Pioli, Luis Enrique, and Ruben Amorim in various reports) have entered or re-entered top-20 lists due to lucrative deals in those leagues, highlighting how non-European appointments can affect global standings. [Cross-outlet summaries and year-to-year listings.]
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How to read the figures: Many outlets publish “total compensation” or “annual wage” figures, which typically include base salary plus guaranteed bonuses, performance bonuses, and other incentives. Exchange rates and whether amounts are in pounds, euros, or dollars can cause apparent differences between sources. [General reporting conventions used by financial and sports business outlets.]
Illustration: a snapshot of typical top earners and their approximate order over the past year shows Simeone at the top, Guardiola and Arteta nearby, with several other high-profile managers (e.g., Pioli, Moyes, Enrique) making up the top 10–20 depending on the source. If you’d like, I can pull the latest single-source ranking and convert all figures to a common currency for easy comparison.
Would you prefer a single, up-to-date ranking with currency-normalized values and a short summary of what each top earner’s compensation comprises? I can also provide a compact table comparing the top 10 across sources. .