Jeff KassoufCloseJeff KassoufESPNJeff Kassouf covers women’s soccer for ESPN, focusing on the USWNT and NWSL. In 2009, he founded The Equalizer, a women’s soccer news outlet, and he previously won a Sports Emmy at NBC Sports and Olympics. and Emily KeoghCloseEmily KeoghCorrespondentBased in London, Emily Keogh is ESPN’s women’s soccer correspondent, specializing in the WSL and UWCLFollow on XMultiple AuthorsApr 29, 2026, 05:12 AM ET
play1:55Who is the best women’s club manager in the world?Jeff Kassouf and Ali Krieger look at ESPN’s top 10 women’s club managers.
Krieger: Great to see female managers getting more opportunities (1:58)Ali Krieger looks at ESPN’s top 20 women’s club managers. (1:58)
Who is the best women’s club manager in the world?Jeff Kassouf and Ali Krieger look at ESPN’s top 10 women’s club managers.
Women’s club managers around the world have been on the move over the past two seasons, with emerging talents taking big roles, proven names moving to national teams, and some stepping away altogether — but who stands out as the best in the club game right now?
This list ranks the top 20, featuring seasoned names nearing the twilight of their careers, youngsters making their mark, and everyone in between.
The final list has been rated one to 10 on four attributes, with 10 being the best, and combining to create a final score out of 40. We both rated our own scores for the managers, then took an average for the final number, and all four categories carried the same weight. Where there is a tied score, we picked our order.
• Style of play: The attractiveness of the manager’s style of play. Entertainment value is paramount here, as is a manager’s capability to dictate the proceedings of a game in a proactive (as opposed to reactive, i.e. play on the break) manner. Inevitably, an attacking style will produce a higher score.
• People management: The capacity to get the most out of a squad. The degree to which players appear to respond to and “play for” a manager. We also reviewed their media interactions and work with backroom staff.
• History/achievements: Simply success and results. Though trophies are the main currency in football, other accomplishments — such as getting teams out of relegation trouble, historic victories over higher-ranked teams, and overperforming on limited resources — count too.
• X factor: The ability to surprise and come up with new ideas, the likelihood of being considered for top jobs in the future, and the resilience to bounce back from a poor run of results.
• Only managers currently employed were considered. This meant former Corinthians’ boss Lucas Piccinato was ruled out despite reaching the FIFA Champions Cup final in January, as he was sacked a few weeks later.
• Due to the conflicting timeline of spring and winter seasons, no time limit was given for how long a manager had to be employed. But managers with long stretches out of work, like Portland Thorns’ Robert Vilahamn, had lower scores and thus failed to make the top 20.
• Only managers still coaching in club football were eligible, meaning though U.S. women’s national team head coach Emma Hayes has a rich history in England with Chelsea and Vlatko Andonovski’s spell in the NWSL with Kansas City Current would have likely ranked them among the top 20, their moves into national team coaching and general management, respectively, ruled them out.
• Of course, some managers missed the cut-off. Manchester United’s Marc Skinner, Al Qadsiah’s Carmelina Moscato and Tigres’ Pedro Martinez Losa fell outside the final 20. Meanwhile, despite leading their teams through the UEFA Women’s Champions League knockouts, Bayern Munich’s Jose Barcala and Real Madrid’s Pau Quesada miss out due to a lack of experience — neither have had previous high-level experience or trophy hauls at their former clubs.
Matricciani quickly asserted his authority after taking charge of Melbourne City , his first major job, in 2024. The 39-year-old introduced a clear possession-based identity that delivered immediate domestic success, with the team going unbeaten and securing the A-League Women title in his first season. His structured approach has brought consistency and control to performances.
A self-confessed data enthusiast, he works closely with analysts to identify and exploit opponents’ weaknesses, reflected in City’s defensive solidity. Now, for the second consecutive year, Melbourne City stand on the brink of a treble, with the domestic title already secured and both the Championship and AFC Women’s Champions League within reach. — Keogh
Lima joined Corinthians in February, adding to her extensive resume of club and country stints, which includes previous spells leading the Peru, Ecuador, and Brazil national teams. She became the first woman to ever take charge of the Seleção in between roles at Santos and São José, and last year had a brief stint with Levante UD before returning to Brazil with Corinthians.
A former player and pioneer of Brazilian women’s football, Lima brings a lot of experience. She favors a possession-based system, and her high-intensity, attack-minded approach has shaped her teams’ identity in recent years. It hasn’t been all smooth sailing, but it is clear that her players have responded and respect her philosophy even during hard times. Brazil veterans Marta and Cristiane publicly supported her and even protested her dismissal in 2017. — Keogh
You need only let Lind speak a few sentences to know that he is “obsessed” with scoring goals. Whether that will fully translate into high-flying success for the North Carolina Courage remains to be seen, but the 37-year-old comes from a successful Swedish talent pipeline at BK Häcken.
Lind won the Damallsvenskan with Hacken last year before leaving for the Courage job. He was also the coach in charge for BK Häcken’s stunning UEFA Champions League campaign in 2023-24, when the Swedish side finished second in a group with Chelsea, Real Madrid and Paris FC to make the quarterfinals.
Those early-career returns are reason to keep an eye on Lind. Now, he must replicate success in the NWSL. — Kassouf
Having spent time as an assistant at Everton and Manchester United early in his career, Ho is now an emerging managerial talent in his own right. His work in guiding Norwegian side SK Brann to a Champions League quarterfinal against Barcelona in 2024 highlighted his potential before he took on the challenge of revitalizing a struggling Tottenham side that had finished 11th last season.
With a long-term contract secured, he now has the platform to build sustained success and re-establish Tottenham as a force in domestic women’s football. — Keogh
At City he picked up the FA Cup (2020) and League Cup (2022) while winning 72.7% of his matches, but questions around consistency, communication and his management of star players remained. Taylor was sacked just five days before City’s League Cup final against Chelsea last year, but wasn’t out of a job for long as he joined Liverpool in the summer.
A winless first half of the season left the club rooted in the relegation zone with a depleted squad, but Taylor showed his resilience and adaptability to ensure a dramatic turnaround, as four wins and five draws lifted Liverpool to 10th with 17 points, restoring belief and stability. Once far from contention, the club now find themselves in the FA Cup semifinals, which is reflective of his impact. — Keogh
Yanez has gone from a technically gifted player to an up-and-coming coach in the NWSL, and last year she guided Racing Louisville to its first playoff appearance, winning NWSL Coach of the Year in the process.
There is growth to be had in the team’s style of play, no doubt, but Yanez has quickly built an easily identifiable team identity and culture, and there might not be a better manager of people in the league. What’s important now is consistency and follow through, but the 37-year-old’s early returns — while working with fewer resources than some teams — have rightfully attracted attention. — Kassouf
Jeff Kassouf and Ali Krieger look at ESPN’s top 10 women’s club managers.
In the rapidly evolving women’s soccer space, it’s important to know your history. No coach has stuck around in the NWSL like Harvey has, and in 2025 she reinvented herself and the Seattle Reign after a wretched prior season to get back into the playoffs and build a better foundation for the team’s overhaul.
Harvey has won three NWSL Shields — and a handful of trophies with Arsenal before that, don’t forget — and has thrice been named NWSL Coach of the Year. Her 2014 Seattle team was one of the best in league history. She is fiercely lauded by players past and present for her management of and care for them, arguably more so than any other player on this list.
The evolution of the NWSL has challenged some of Harvey’s ideas, and the Reign are not yet a bona fide championship threat for 2026, but Harvey has asserted herself as both a torch-bearer in a male-dominated league. — Kassouf
Lerch has been at Wolfsburg since 2013 in various roles (with a one-year gap when he took charge of Hoffenheim) and has progressed from assistant to take the role of first-team coach twice. His first spell, between 2017 and 2021, saw him lead the team to four DfB Cup trophies, three Frauen-Bundesliga titles and two Champions League finals, cultivating a strong winning mentality along the way.
Now back at the club since April 2025, his possession-based approach, which is built on structured buildup and attacking intent, has been effective. But that ambition has left the side exposed to counterattacks and defensive lapses at times, which has stopped them reaching the same heights as before. Still, Lerch had an impressive 86% win rate during his initial four-year tenure, and one year into his return, the foundations of his new era appear stable and promising. — Keogh
The Orlando Pride’s 2024 NWSL campaign may never be matched. The Kansas City Current did their best the following year and set new records for the Shield, but they faltered in the quarterfinals and failed to win the double, which further reinforced how special the Pride’s 2024 Shield-NWSL Championship double really was in a league of fine margins.