While football coaches do a lot of work in education, it’s hard to win top honors without spending a lot of money.
Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho are two of the most successful coaches of the modern era and are willing to spend money in the transfer market.
Despite being retired, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger are still the biggest spenders of all time.
Using Transfermarkt’s knowledge, we’ve compiled the top 20 football coaches who spend the most in history by analysing their combined spending on moves across all the clubs they’ve managed.
Clubs managed: five (Crotone, Genoa, Inter, Palermo, Atalanta)
Club trophies won: 0
Five purchases
Clubs managed: 6 (Rio Ave, Valencia, Porto, Wolves, Tottenham, Al-Ittihad)
Club trophies won: (EFL Championship, Saudi Professional League, Arabian Super Cup)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: (East Sterling, St Mirren, Aberdeen, Manchester United)
Club trophies won: 50 (Scottish First Division x4, Scottish Cup x4, Scottish League Cup, Drybrough Cup, Premier League x13, FA Cup x5, League Cup x4, Community Shield x10, Champions League x2, European Cup Winners’ Cup x2, European Cup Super Cup x2, Intercontinental Cup, FIFA Club World Cup)
Five purchases
It was indeed a special moment at Old Trafford for #PLHallOfFame member, @rioferdy5 ✨ pic. twitter. com/eyZAAQpMhN
– Premier League (@premierleague) 22 July 2023
Clubs managed: 6 (Fiorentina, Lazio, Inter, Manchester City, Galatasaray, Zenit Saint Petersburg)
Club trophies won: thirteen (Serie A x3, Coppa Italia x4, Supercoppa Italiana x2, Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield, Turkish Cup)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: 6 (Athletic Bilbao, Espanyol, Olympiacos, Villarreal, Valencia, Barcelona)
Club trophies won: 10 (Greek Super League x3, Greek Cup x2, La Liga x2, Spanish Super Cup x2, Copa del Rey)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: 18 (Vigor Lamezia, Puteolana, Cagliari, Napoli, Fiorentina, Valencia, Atletico Madrid, Chelsea, Parma, Juventus, Roma, Inter, Monaco, Leicester City, Nantes, Fulham, Sampdoria, Watford)
Club trophies won: 10 (Serie C1, Coppa Italia Serie C, Serie B, Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana, Copa del Rey, UEFA Intertoto Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Ligue 2, Premier League)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: 14 (Real Valladolid, Osasuna, Extremadura, Tenerife, Valencia, Liverpool, Inter, Chelsea, Napoli, Real Madrid, Newcastle United, Dalian Professional, Everton, Celta de Vigo)
Club trophies won: thirteen (La Liga x2, Europa League x2, FA Cup, Community Shield, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana x2, FIFA Club World Cup, EFL Championship)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: 15 (Amora, Felgueiras, União Madeira, Estrela da Amadora, Vitória Setúbal, Vitória Guimarães, Moreirense, União Leiria, Belenenses, Braga, Benfica, Sporting, Flamengo, Fenerbahçe, Al-Hilal)
Club trophies won: 20 (UEFA Intertoto Cup, Primeira Liga x3, Taça de Portugal, Taça da Liga x6, Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira x2, Saudi Arabian Supercup, Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, Copa Libertadores, Supercopa do Brasil, Recopa Sudamericana, Campeonato Carioca, Turkish Cup)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: (Nancy, Monaco, Nagoya Grampus Eight, Arsenal)
Club trophies won: 21 (Division 1, French Cup, Emperor’s Cup, Japan Super Cup, Premier League x3, FA Cup x7, Community Shield x7)
Five purchases
– Arsenal (@Arsenal) May 6, 2020
Clubs managed: nine (Lorca Deportiva, Almería, Valencia, Spartak Moscow, Sevilla, Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, Villarreal, Aston Villa)
Club trophies won: (Europa League x4, Ligue 1, French Cup x2, League Cup x2, Champions Trophy x2)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: (Mainz, Borussia Dortmund, Liverpool)
Club trophies won: 12 (Bundesliga x2, DFB-Pokal, DFL-Supercup x2, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Community Shield, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup)
Five purchases:
Clubs managed: five (Espanyol, Southampton, Tottenham, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea)
Club trophies won: (Ligue 1, Coupe de France, Champions Trophy)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: (Arezzo, Bari, Atalanta, Siena, Juventus, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Tottenham)
Club trophies won: nine (Serie B, Serie A x4, Supercopa Italiana x2, Premier League, FA Cup)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: 6 (Augsburg, Mainz 05, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Bayern Munich)
Club trophies won: (DFB-Pokal, Ligue 1 x2, French Cup, League Cup, Champions Trophy x2, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, FIFA Club World Cup, Bundesliga)
Five purchases
Kylian Mbappé ??
• Helped win Ligue 1 and the Trophée des Champions
• The club’s most sensible goalscorer in all competitions in 2018/19
• Ligue 1 top scorer, named Player of the Year in Championnatpic. twitter. com/HEpvKsFYtq
– Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) July 31, 2019
Clubs managed: 14 (Universidad de Chile, Palestino, O’Higgins, Universidad Católica, LDU Quito, San Lorenzo, River Plate, Villarreal, Real Madrid, Málaga, Manchester City, Hebei China Fortune, West Ham United, Real Betis)
Club trophies won: (Copa Chile, Copa Interamericana, Liga Pro, Primera División Argentina x2, Copa Mercosur, Copa Intertoto, Premier League, Copa de la Liga x2, Copa del Rey)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: 6 (Estudiantes, River Plate, San Lorenzo, Catania, Racing Club, Atlético Madrid)
Club trophies won: 10 Argentine Primera División x2, La Liga x2, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España, Europa League x2, Supercopa de Europa x2)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: 7 (Aglianese, SPAL, Grosseto, Sassuolo, Cagliari, AC Milan, Juventus)
Club trophies won: 14 (Serie C1, Serie A x6, Coppa Italia x4, Supercoppa Italiana x3)
Five purchases
⚪️⚫️ When Cristiano Ronaldo scored for Juventus, his former club, Manchester United, in 2018?#UCL | @juventusfcen | @Cristiano pic. twitter. com/ImyVFn5MMp
– UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) 5 February 2021
Clubs managed: 10 (Reggiana, Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Napoli, Everton, Real Madrid)
Club trophies won: 26 (Intertoto Cup, Serie A, Coppa Italia, Italian Super Cup, Champions League x4, UEFA Super Cup x4, FIFA Club World Cup x3, Premier League, FA Cup, Community Shield, Ligue 1, La Liga, Copa del Rey x2, Spanish Super Cup, Bundesliga, DFL-Super Cup x2)
Five purchases
Clubs managed: nine (Benfica, Uniao de Leiria, Porto, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester United, Tottenham, Roma)
Club trophies won: 26 (Primeira Liga x2, Taça de Portugal, Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, Champions League x2, Europa League x2, Premier League x3, FA Cup, League Cup x4, Community Shield x2, Serie A x2, Coppa Italia, Supercoppa Italiana, La Liga, Copa del Rey, Supercopa de España, Europa Conference League)
Five purchases
Managed clubs: (Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Manchester City)
Club trophies won: 36 (La Liga x3, Copa del Rey x2, Spanish Super Cup x3, Champions League x3, UEFA Super Cup x4, FIFA Club World Cup x3, Bundesliga x3, DFB-Pokal x2, Premier League x5, FA Cup x2, League Cup x4, Community Shield x2)
Five purchases
READ MORE: The top 10 all-time transfers in the Premier League, with 3 signings from Man Utd and the Liverpool striker