Who is the best manager in world football? It’s fair to say that there are quite a few valid options.
Carlo Ancelotti has won the championship in each of Europe’s top five leagues, as well as five Champions League titles. Pep Guardiola has built dynasties in Spain, England and Germany. Antonio Conte has transformed Italian teams like Juventus and Napoli from underachievers to title winners. Diego Simeone has turned Atletico Madrid into a worldwide powerhouse.
However, one manager who has certainly made his way into that conversation is Paris Saint-Germain boss Luis Enrique, ranked at no.1 in FourFourTwo’s list of the best managers in the world right now.
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10 years after guiding Barcelona to the treble, Enrique led PSG to a treble in his second season at the helm, putting an end to their long-awaited search for a first Champions League trophy.
Born in Gijon, Spain, Enrique rose through the ranks at Sporting Gijon’s academy and represented the first team before eventually taking his talents to Real Madrid in 1991. After five years in the Spanish capital, Enrique made the move to Barcelona, where he emerged as a versatile cog in midfield and attack, scoring 108 goals in 300 matches.
After retiring from football in 2004, Enrique would soon make the jump into management, replacing Guardiola as Barcelona B manager in 2008, where he guided them back to the Spanish second tier after an 11-year absence.
“The best team that I coached, or at least the one that I enjoyed the most, was Barcelona B,” Enrique tells FourFourTwo now. “They were my first three years as a manager, and it was the team where I felt the best, where I learned the most, and where I could develop what I wanted to be as a coach even without having experience.”
In 2011, Enrique departed for Italy, becoming Roma’s head coach. He struggled to convince in the capital, walking away after one season after failing to guide them to European qualification – then after a year-long sabbatical, he returned to management in 2013 and joined Celta Vigo, where he fared much better and led them to ninth in the table.
It was enough to see Barcelona appoint him as their new manager, replacing Tata Martino at the helm. Despite a shaky start to proceedings, Enrique managed to work his magic as Barcelona won the La Liga title and Copa del Rey, as well as their last Champions League title to date. All in all, he won nine trophies before walking away in 2017.
He then became manager of the Spain national team, where, despite managing to make visible strides, he was unable to guide them to a major final. Back-to-back penalty shootout defeats to Italy in the 2021 Euros as well as Morocco in the 2022 World Cup would see him lose his job – however, he would be out of work for only a couple of months before PSG came calling.
Enrique’s first season in charge of PSG would see them claim a domestic treble and reach the Champions League semifinals, only to lose to Borussia Dortmund. Despite losing all-time leading scorer Kylian Mbappe to Real Madrid, PSG managed to reach another level in 2024/25, going unbeaten in their first 28 league matches and winning another domestic treble.
PSG looked in danger of missing out on the Champions League knockout round after a dismal run of form that saw them collect one point from four matches; they would bounce back in stellar fashion by beating Red Bull Salzburg, Manchester City and Stuttgart, before demolishing Brest 10-0 in the knockout round playoffs.
Les Parisiens would then edge Liverpool on penalties and narrowly brush past Aston Villa before beating Arsenal 3-1 on aggregate. Five years after reaching their first Champions League Final, PSG were finally back at the biggest stage in club football. This time, they didn’t let it slip, demolishing Inter 5-0 to become the second French side to win the European Cup.
But rather than enjoying the full summer and spending their vacations celebrating the triumph, PSG had to return to action shortly after, thrashing Atletico Madrid 4-0 in their Club World Cup opener. They were then shocked in a 1-0 defeat to Botafogo, but they would nevertheless bounce back with a 2-0 win against Seattle Sounders.
On Sunday, PSG faced off against Inter Miami in Atlanta in the Round of 16. Facing off against Miami coach Javier Mascherano as well as Sergio Busquets, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi and Jordi Alba – all of whom made up Barcelona’s 2014/15 treble-winning side – PSG delivered a ruthless performance and found themselves four goals to the good going into halftime, securing a 4-0 victory.
Paris Saint-Germain have already proven their worth as European champions, but can they confirm their status as world champions? In order to do so, they’ll first need to negotiate a tricky quarter-final clash with German champions Bayern Munich in Atlanta on Saturday.
