5 Star Coaching Staff & Best Coaches of Football Manager 2020
Focused on player development and want to take your club and its players to another level? Welcome to our list of the best Football Manager 2020 coaches which will be beneficial in your job to develop promising talents into future stars, get your squad ready for match day and increase the tactical familiarity of players’ roles and the overall tactical vision you’ve incorporated for your squad.
We’ve earlier talked about the importance of setting up a 5 star coaching team, so today we hand you our list of the best Football Manager 2020 coaches. Considered as the ultimate staff recommendation for Football Manager, our list of the best coaches of FM20 will also feature a backroom staff search filter and a shortlist which you can download and import into your own save.
Our massive list of the best coaches is sorted according to their job role, either they are best suited for coaching goalkeepers, the defensive or attacking aspects of the game relating to tactical, technical or possession, or are best suited to improve players’ strength or quickness.
Quickly find the best coaches of Football Manager 2020 as we reveal 5 star coaching staff that improves player development!
Best Coaches by Role
About Our Rankings of Best FM20 Coaches
Considered (by myself at least) to be the most essential task when starting a new save, the hunt for the best coaches and backroom staff, kicks off as soon as I’ve gathered an overview of the current coaching team. I can spend ‘hours’ scouring through the database for coaching staff which provides the highest coach ratings in each training area (e.g. goalkeeping, defending, attacking, possession and fitness).
Here you’ll profit from all the hours I’ve spend looking for the best coaches of Football Manager 2020 as I reveal most of them. While we’ve limited the list to the best ones, our shortlist and backroom staff search filter (available to download below) can assist you further – something that’s recommended for all of you who manage in the lower leagues.
The list of coaches features hundreds of coaching staff, from general coaches with expertise in technical or tactical areas of the game, goalkeeping coaches to fitness coaches. The coaching staff featured within this list are sorted by their best training category and star rating. In situations where staff has the same star rating, they will be sorted alphabetical.
The coaches star rating, hereby meaning their level of coaching, will influence on the players training progress and are one of the answers to a successful player development – developing a promising talent into a Football Manager wonderkid.
These coaches should be targeted to improve the level of training, hereby the development of the players, while reducing the workload of the specific training aspect, which further improves the quality of training. Our list of the best Football Manager coaches will feature experts of the tactical side of the game; being able to improve players positioning, concentration and decisions, experts of the attacking or defending phase as well as specialists who will focus on players fitness or goalkeepers ability to shot stopping, handling and distribution.
By properly addressing the task of putting together a 5 star coaching team you will not only make sure each staff member can make a greater impact by having more time available to improve specific attributes, but also tailor the player attributes to suit your football philosophy; meaning that every backroom staff appointed will be a valuable piece to get your squad play the game you visualize is the best.
The best coaches of Football Manager 2020 will all be professional staff with great personality and an higher degree of coaching qualification. Some of them will have a great reputation which may further improve players training happiness, while others will be more capable of improving players mental state of mind.
By appointing a team of entrusted coaching staff you will be one step closer to establish a football philosophy and an overall vision for your new club, either it’s to improve the clubs level of professionalism or take advantage of the 5 star coaching team to develop better players and get the most out of your young talents. These excellent technical or tactical coaches, fitness and goalkeeping coaches will be best suited to work with the occurring development of the players. Apart from assisting you at the training ground at a daily basis they will provide you with valuable feedback of the team’s progress and development of individual players and might become one of the most entrusted staff in your coaching team.
You can read more about how to find the best coaches in Football Manager and why assembling a 5 star coaching team is profitable in our guide to finding the best coaches.
PS. The star rating within these lists may vary with half star. Their staff attributes may also vary from save to save too, meaning the star rating may differ more.
Best Football Manager 2020 Coaches Revealed [By Coaching Area] | Updated for 20.4 DB
Best Defending Coaches
| NAT. | NAME (AGE) | CLUB | COACHING CAT. | COACHING QUAL. | RATING |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Iván Córdoba (42) | – | |||
 | Miguel D’Agostino (42) | – | |||
 | Mario Cecchi (49) | Lazio | |||
 | Miguel Quaresma (65) | Sporting | |||
 | Danny McGrain (69) | Celtic | |||
 | John Heitinga (35) | Ajax U19 | |||
| John Kennedy (35) | Celtic | |||
 | Gäel Givet (37) | Monaco | |||
 | Paul Robinson (40) | Birmingham | |||
| Jorge Andrade (41) | – | |||
| Giovanni Ignoffo (42) | – | |||
 | Flavio Tanajura (44) | Vítoria U20 | |||
| Andy Crosby (46) | Northern Ireland | |||
 | Tony Loughlan (49) | Burnley | |||
 | Stig Inge Bjørnebye (49) | – | |||
| Claude Fichaux (50) | Olympique Lyonnais | |||
| Erik Hoftun (50) | – | |||
 | Frank Dauwen (51) | Beerschot | |||
| Ian Woan (51) | Burnley | |||
| Daniele Baldini (55) | – | |||
| Wally Downes (55) | – | |||
| Mike Phelan (56) | Man Utd | |||
| Giuseppe Irrera (57) | Fiorentina | |||
| Mauro Galvão (57) | – | |||
| José di Leo (58) | – | |||
| Glynn Snodin (59) | Chesterfield | |||
| Tony McAndrew (63) | – | |||
 | Lorenzo Serra Ferrer (66) | – | |||
| Brian Kidd (70) | Man City | |||
 | Danny Elliott (31) | Newport County | |||
 | Thomas Lagerlöf (47) | Djurgårdens IF | |||
| Kit Symons (48) | – | |||
| Domenico Olivieri (51) | KRC Genk | |||
| Jorge Theiler (55) | LA Galaxy |
Best Attacking Coaches
| NAT. | NAME (AGE) | CLUB | COACHING CAT. | COACHING QUAL. | RATING |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | Kieran McKenna (33) | Man Utd | |||
| Rodolfo Borrell (48) | Man City | |||
| Dennis Bergkamp (50) | Jong Vitesse | |||
| Maurizio Trombetta (56) | – | |||
| Éder Aleixo (62) | At. Mineiro | |||
| Simon Tahamata (63) | AFC Ajax | |||
| Mikel González (31) | Alavés | |||
 | Nathaniel Weiss (31) | 1.FC Nürnberg | |||
| Carlos Corberán (36) | Leeds | |||
| Paolo Riela (36) | Fiorentina | |||
| Nicolas Jover (36) | – | |||
| João Tralhão (38) | – | |||
| Allan Russell (38) | England | |||
| Michael Beale (39) | Rangers | |||
| Fernando Yamada (40) | Corinthians | |||
| Rodrigo Leitão (41) | Corinthians | |||
| James Beattie (41) | – | |||
 | Lars Knudsen (42) | Denmark U21 | |||
| Nick Theslof (43) | Toronto FC | |||
| Claudio Graf (43) | – | |||
 | Bartek Sylwestrzak (45) | – | |||
| Colin Little (46) | Man Utd | |||
| Facundo Villalba (46) | River Plate | |||
| Sigurd Rushfeldt (46) | Tromsø | |||
| Mark Sale (47) | – | |||
| Duncan Ferguson (47) | Everton | |||
| Turu Flores (48) | Las Palmas | |||
| Valnei Pichite dos Santos (48) | Bahia | |||
| Nicola Caccia (49) | Napoli | |||
| Tristán Celador (49) | Real Madrid | |||
 | Kostadin Vidolov (49) | – | |||
| Pedro Sallaberry (50) | San Lorenzo | |||
| Luc Nilis (52) | VVV Venlo | |||
| Hans Visser (52) | OH Leuven | |||
 | Rubén Sosa (53) | Nacional | |||
| Ariel Paolorossi (55) | – | |||
 | Stanislav Griga (57) | Zilina B | |||
| Norberto Batista (57) | – | |||
| Jan Wouters (58) | – | |||
| Kevin Sheedy (59) | – | |||
| Kim Hansen (59) | Frem U19 | |||
 | Norbert Elgert (62) | Schalke 04 | |||
| Steve Avory (64) | Charlton | |||
| Gianni Vio (66) | – | |||
| Michel Bruyninckx (67) | ASPIRE | |||
| Iarley (45) | Internacional U20 | |||
| Ebbe Sand (46) | – | |||
| Giancarlo Marini (54) | – | |||
| Gianmario Corti (56) | Como |
Best Possession Coaches
| NAT. | NAME (AGE) | CLUB | COACHING CAT. | COACHING QUAL. | RATING |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Salvatore Cerrone (59) | Inter Milan | |||
| Ulf Häfelinger (34) | RB Salzburg | |||
| Christian Lattanzio (38) | OGC Nice | |||
| Tim Jenkins (39) | Liverpool | |||
| Kristjaan Speakman (40) | Birmingham | |||
| Emilio de Leo (41) | Bologna | |||
| Helena Costa (41) | Eint. Frankfurt | |||
| Philipp Laux (46) | – | |||
| Roy Keane (47) | – | |||
| Carlos Netto (48) | San Lorenzo | |||
| Ivan Moretto (49) | Cagliari | |||
| Thomas Horsch (50) | Werder Bremen | |||
| Aldo Dolcetti (52) | – | |||
| Craig Shakespeare (55) | Watford | |||
| Mark Dempsey (55) | Man Utd | |||
| Tommy Martin (55) | Man Utd U23 | |||
| António Vieira (55) | – | |||
| Jon Aspiazu (56) | – | |||
| Juan Verzeri (56) | – | |||
| Néstor Apuzzo (56) | Huracán | |||
| Mark Chamberlain (57) | Portsmouth U18 | |||
| Roberto Marina (57) | – | |||
| Johnny Metgod (61) | U.A.E | |||
| Danilo Pierini (64) | – | |||
| Juan José Carretero (65) | – | |||
| Paul Hart (66) | – | |||
| Mauro Fumagalli (40) | Atalanta | |||
| Franck Geideck (52) | Bor. Mönchengladbach | |||
| Julio Figueroa (55) | Wolves |
Overall Coaches
A great overall coach has the compentency to work under all the different training categories. Their coaching attributes and overall abilities are generally equally spread such as they are equally good at possession technical compared to defending tactical. These overall coaches helps to reduce the workload of two or more coaching assignements and will assist the best coaches with their broad section of abilities.
| NAT. | NAME (AGE) | CLUB | COACHING CAT. | COACHING QUAL. | RATING |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Claudiomir Rates (43) | Cruzeiro U19 | |||
| Seppo Eichkorn (62) | Schalke 04 | |||
| Alvaro (28) | Real Madrid U19 | |||
| Salvatore Foti (30) | – | |||
| David Krecidlo (35) | Bayern II | |||
| Álvaro Jurado (35) | Sevilla U19 | |||
| Jan Hoepner (38) | Bayer 04 Leverkusen | |||
| Daniel Rios (39) | Bor. Dortmund | |||
| Dagoberto Santos (39) | – | |||
| Kevin van Dessel (40) | KRC Genk | |||
| Ricardo Seguins (41) | At. Mineiro | |||
| Gary Issott (42) | Crystal Palace | |||
| Javier Pérez (42) | NYCFC | |||
| Pablo Villa (43) | – | |||
| Sérgio Botelho (44) | Al-Nassr | |||
| Barry Lewtas (44) | Liverpool | |||
| José Barros (45) | Palmeiras | |||
| Andrey Lopes (45) | Palmeiras | |||
| Hagen Schmidt (49) | Bor. Mönchengladbach | |||
| Roland Virkus (50) | Bor. Mönchengladbach | |||
| Frank Geideck (52) | Bor. Mönchengladbach | |||
| Paul Jenkins (52) | – | |||
 | Vladimir Gudelj (52) | Celta Vigo | |||
| David Lowe (53) | Blackburn | |||
| Claudio Grillo (54) | – | |||
 | Jozo Bandic (55) | Dinamo Zagreb | |||
| Jean-Luc Cassini (55) | – | |||
| Eric Black (55) | – | |||
| Thomas Flath (55) | – | |||
| Chris Ramsey (57) | QPR | |||
| Martin Hunter (59) | Tottenham | |||
| Ton Lokhoff (59) | Wolfsburg |
Best Fitness Coaches
| NAT. | NAME (AGE) | CLUB | COACHING CAT. | FITNESS | RATING |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Michael Lindeman (55) | N.E.C | |||
| Lorenzo Buenaventura (56) | Man City | |||
| Roberto Sassi (68) | Juventus | |||
| Bruno Mendes (36) | – | |||
| Florian Wangler (39) | Bor. Dortmund | |||
| Andrea Pertusio (41) | Juventus | |||
| Damian Roden (44) | Seattle | |||
| Andreas Kornmayer (44) | Liverpool | |||
| Válter Abrantes (45) | – | |||
| Duccio Ferrari Bravo (45) | Juventus | |||
| Andrea Scanavino (46) | Zenit | |||
| Anselmo Sbragia (46) | Corinthians | |||
| Jesús Pérez (47) | – | |||
| Carlos Lalín (48) | Tottenham | |||
| Eduardo Silva (48) | – | |||
| Edu Pons (48) | Barcelona | |||
| José Antonio Pozanco (49) | – | |||
| Oliver Bartlett (50) | – | |||
| Andreas Schlumberger (52) | Bor. Mönchengladbach | |||
| Markus Zetlmeisl (52) | Schalke 04 II | |||
| Omar Feitosa (52) | – | |||
| Fábio Mahseredjian (52) | Brazil | |||
| Darlan Schneider (55) | Botafogo | |||
| Gabriel Macaya (56) | – | |||
| Alejandro Richino (56) | – | |||
| Antonio Pintus (56) | Inter Milan | |||
| Élio Carravetta (58) | SC Internacional | |||
| Paolo Bertelli (58) | Sampdoria | |||
| Domenico Borelli (60) | Atalanta | |||
| Massimo Neri (61) | – | |||
| Óscar Ortega (61) | At. Madrid | |||
| Pep Segura (62) | – | |||
| Carlinhos Neves (63) | São Paulo | |||
| Ivan Carminati (64) | Zenit | |||
 | László Jámbor (71) | Paxtapor | |||
| Rafel Pol (32) | Spain | |||
| Holger Broich (44) | Bayern Munich | |||
| Jon Goodman (48) | MK Dons | |||
| Paulino Granero (49) | CSKA Moscow | |||
| Fabio Micarelli (54) | – | |||
| Adriano Bianchini (56) | Lazio |
Best Goalkeeping Coaches
| NAT. | NAME (AGE) | CLUB | COACHING CAT. | COACHING QUAL. | RATING |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hugo Oliveira (40) | – | |||
| Roberto Barbosa (45) | Cruzeiro | |||
| Jens Lehmann (49) | – | |||
| Alessandro Nista (54) | SSC Napoli | |||
| Adalberto Grigioni (64) | Lazio | |||
| Toni (40) | Shakhtar | |||
| Leandro Franco (40) | Cruzeiro | |||
| Daniel Correia (42) | – | |||
| Alejandro Rosalén (42) | Fiorentina | |||
| Alex Brunner (45) | Udinese | |||
| Rui Barbosa (45) | Wolverhampton | |||
| Xavi Valero (46) | West Ham | |||
| Paolo Orlandoni (46) | Inter Milan | |||
| Grégory Coupet (46) | Olympique Lyonnais | |||
| Emilio Álvarez (47) | – | |||
| John Achterberg (48) | Liverpool | |||
| Stevie Woods (49) | Celtic | |||
| Nicolas Dehon (51) | OGC Nice | |||
| Gianluca Spinelli (52) | Paris SG | |||
| Adriano Bonaiuti (52) | Inter Milan | |||
| Claudio Filippi (53) | Juventus | |||
| Marco Savorani (54) | AS Roma | |||
| Flávio Tênus (55) | Botafogo | |||
| Jörg Schmadtke (55) | Wolfsburg | |||
| Gustavo Piñero (56) | Mexico | |||
| Jorge Vital (56) | Braga | |||
| Christophe Lollichon (56) | Chelsea U23 | |||
| Iñaki Bergara (57) | Belgium | |||
| Andoni Zubizarreta (57) | Marseille | |||
| Fernando Justino (58) | Portugal | |||
| Diamantino Figueiredo (59) | Porto | |||
| Silvino Louro (60) | – | |||
| Gerald Ehrmann (60) | Hertha Berlin | |||
| Joël Bats (62) | Atlanta United | |||
| Frans Hoek (62) | Orange County | |||
| Gerry Peyton (63) | – | |||
| Krzysztof Dowhan (63) | Legia Warzawa | |||
| Eric Steele (65) | England U20 | |||
| Pål Berg (65) | Stabæk | |||
 | Vyacheslav Chanov (67) | – | |||
 | Semen Altman (73) | – | |||
| David Thiel (34) | Bayer 04 Leverkusen | |||
| Javier Garciá (40) | Arsenal | |||
| Simon Henzler (42) | Schalke 04 | |||
| José Luis Silva (39) | Sevilla | |||
| Franck Raviot (45) | France | |||
| Toni Jiménez (48) | – | |||
| Alan Fettis (48) | Man Utd | |||
| Xabier Mancisidor (49) | Man City | |||
| Zsolt Petry (52) | – | |||
| David Coles (55) | England U19 | Possession Tactical | ||
| José Manuel Otxotorena (58) | Valencia | |||
| Vic Bettinelli (59) | Fulham | |||
| Carlos Pracidelli (62) | – | |||
| Pedro Alba (64) | Racing Santander |
A comprehensive backroom staff search filter containing the key attributes for all staff roles in Football Manager 2020
Staff Assessment Spreadsheet: Download
Download Instructions
- Download the file above.
- Put the files into folder :
My Documents / Sports Interactive / Football Manager 2020 / Filters - Open Football Manager 2020
- Go to:
Staff / Staff Search - Click Edit Search
- Locate the gear icon in the bottom left corner
- Click Manage Filters
- Import the file:
Passion4FM-backroom-staff-search-filterand click Load - Voila! All the different filters are added and can be selected as a search by clicking the gear icon afterwards.
Hi folks – excellent work to get this up and running so soon.
Quick one – I can’t seem to download the staff shortlist, it just goes back to this link. Any ideas?
Thanks
Hi Jonny,
Thanks for your comment.
The reason is that the shortlist is not published yet. We are currently working on compiling the coaches. Expect the shortlist to be released within Monday. We’ll announce the update on Twitter once ready. Have a great weekend and enjoy Football Manager 2019!
Best Regards Espen