Highest-Paid Football Managers: Full List, Salaries & Contracts Explained

Simone Inzaghi, Diego Simeone and Mikel Arteta lead Planet Football’s October 2026 ranking of the highest paid managers in world football. Their reported annual salaries are £22.5 million, £20.3 million and £20 million respectively. These are reported estimates, not confirmed payslips.

But there’s more to the comparison than finding the biggest number. Arteta’s reported deal includes bonuses beyond his listed salary, while other managers have different wage estimates across publications. That can change how close the race looks.

Who are the highest paid managers in world football?

The table below follows Planet Football’s ranking published on 7 October 2026. Keeping one publication’s figures together makes the comparison clearer than mixing salaries from different lists.

Position	Manager	Team listed	Reported annual salary
1	Simone Inzaghi	Al-Hilal	£22.5 million
2	Diego Simeone	Atlético Madrid	£20.3 million
3	Mikel Arteta	Arsenal	£20 million
4	Oliver Glasner	Nottingham Forest	£13 million
5	Xabi Alonso	Chelsea	£11.3 million
6	José Mourinho	Real Madrid	£10.3 million
7	Luis Enrique	Paris Saint-Germain	£10.3 million
8	Andoni Iraola	Liverpool	£10.3 million
9	Luciano Spalletti	Juventus	£9.7 million
10	Carlo Ancelotti	Brazil	£8.1 million

Mourinho, Enrique and Iraola share the same published salary figure, even though the ranking gives them separate positions. On the numbers shown, they’re level; the table doesn’t establish a pay difference between them.

These are dated salary estimates, not permanent positions. Jobs in Football also describes managerial pay rankings as subject to change as football’s financial landscape shifts.

What does “highest paid” actually mean?

In this ranking, it means the largest reported yearly wage. It doesn’t mean the richest manager, the manager with the most trophies or the person whose appointment cost a club the most money. Planet Football ranks its list by annual wages.

Think of three separate questions: what does the manager earn each year, what extra money might the contract offer, and what did the club pay to secure the appointment? Arteta’s reported bonuses and Aston Villa’s payment to recruit Unai Emery show why those questions shouldn’t be rolled into one figure.

Salary and bonuses aren’t necessarily the same total

Planet Football puts Arteta’s annual salary at £20 million and reports an additional £5 million in bonuses under a contract running until 2030. That makes him a useful example of why a headline salary may not describe the whole package.

But you shouldn’t automatically treat the salary and bonuses as one guaranteed annual payment. The report separates them without explaining the full conditions or timing attached to those bonuses.

A buyout fee isn’t the manager’s wage

Jobs in Football reports that Aston Villa paid Villarreal a £5.2 million buyout fee to recruit Emery. It separately estimates Emery’s annual salary at £8.3 million in its October 2025 article.

That distinction matters. The buyout was a payment to the club he left, not another £5.2 million of annual wages for Emery. Adding the two together would confuse the cost of hiring a manager with the manager’s pay.

Why do different salary lists disagree?

Sometimes the difference is substantial. GiveMeSport’s October 2026 article lists Glasner at £11.5 million a year, while Planet Football lists him at £13 million. Spalletti appears at £11.2 million in GiveMeSport’s account and £9.7 million in Planet Football’s.

Even smaller differences matter when managers are close together. Alonso is listed at £11.5 million by GiveMeSport and £11.3 million by Planet Football. Those aren’t identical figures, even though both place him among the biggest earners.

The reports don’t establish a common explanation for every difference. So it would be misleading to claim that one figure includes bonuses or tax while another doesn’t. The safer reading is simply that the published estimates disagree.

In our view, the broad earning level is often more useful than the exact position. Glasner’s estimates differ, but both place him below Arteta’s reported £20 million salary. That comparison is clearer than pretending every manager’s precise wage is settled.

Why can managers command such large salaries?

SPBO links football’s spending power to money from supporters, broadcasters, investors and commercial sponsors. It also highlights the difficulty of management and the skills leading coaches bring to their teams.

That doesn’t mean clubs are buying guaranteed success. In our view, they’re paying for the belief that a particular manager can improve results, handle expectations or build something more competitive.

Emery offers a concrete example of improvement behind a substantial salary. Jobs in Football describes Villa’s rise from near the bottom of the Premier League after his November 2022 appointment to European qualification, including the Champions League.

And the market isn’t limited to Europe. The same publication identifies Saudi investment as a major influence on where highly regarded coaches work, while Planet Football places Al-Hilal’s Inzaghi at the top of its 2026 salary table.

For the commercial side of that spending, see our explainer on how football club sponsorship works.

Does the highest salary mean the best manager?

Not by itself. A wage ranking answers a financial question, not a tactical one. Planet Football ranks managers by yearly pay; it isn’t measuring their coaching ability through those figures.

In our view, judging a manager also means considering the expectations attached to the job and what the team achieves. A bigger salary can raise expectations, but it isn’t a trophy.

If silverware is the comparison you’re interested in, our guide to managers with the most trophies in football looks at a different kind of managerial record.

Common questions about managers’ salaries

Who is the highest paid Premier League manager?

Arteta is the highest-paid Premier League manager in Planet Football’s October 2026 ranking, at a reported £20 million annually. Glasner follows at £13 million, then Alonso at £11.3 million.

Who is the highest paid national-team manager?

Planet Football identifies Brazil manager Carlo Ancelotti as the highest-paid international manager in its 2026 comparison, with reported yearly earnings of £8.1 million. GiveMeSport puts his figure slightly higher, at £8.2 million.

Are these figures the managers’ net worth?

No. The ranking compares reported annual wages, not total personal wealth. You can’t use one year’s listed salary to establish how much a manager owns or has accumulated across a career.

Are bonuses included in every listed salary?

There isn’t a clear basis for treating every figure that way. Planet Football lists Arteta’s salary separately from his reported bonuses, but it doesn’t establish a uniform bonus breakdown for all ten managers.

So when a salary headline starts an argument among fans, keep the question precise: are you comparing annual wages, possible bonuses or the cost of hiring the coach? Arteta and Emery show how those can be very different numbers.