Best World Cup managers

1070 duels later, Didier Deschamps is still #1 in the World Cup manager ranking, with Lionel Scaloni close behind at 1314 ELO points.

Deschamps holds the top spot with 1345 ELO points and a 60% win rate across 15 duels, while Scaloni sits 31 points behind after 16 duels. Luis Enrique claims third place with 1303 points despite the fewest duels in the top three, boasting the highest win rate at 67%. The sharpest divide appears between fourth and fifth: 82 ELO points separate Zlatko Dalić from Fernando Santos, marking the ranking's most decisive gap. This chasm suggests the community draws a clear line between the tournament's tactical elite and the rest of the field. At the bottom, Hansi Flick languishes in last place with 1076 points and a 33% win rate, while Roberto Martínez narrowly avoids the wooden spoon with 1108 points. Hervé Renard sits just above them, also winning only 33% of his 12 duels.

This ranking draws from 1070 duels submitted by 31 players, evaluating 13 managers competing at the World Cup. The standings were updated on 12 October 2026. Head to VAINKEURZ to cast your own votes and shape the debate over which manager truly commands the touchline best.

Updated on October 12, 2026

How this ranking is computed

Every duel won lifts a contender and every loss drops them, by an amount that depends on the opponent's strength: beating the leader is worth more than beating the last. It is an ELO, the same principle as in chess. Duels are not drawn at random — an adaptive entropy sort puts the least predictable match-ups first, which settles the ranking far faster than a full round robin. A worldwide ranking is only published past 30 completed plays. Known limit: a contender who has faced few opponents keeps an approximate score, and the bottom of the table moves more than the podium.

How our rankings are made →