Join The Club
Taking a team to the World Cup as a manager or head coach is a true honour and a special achievement even for those with elite clubs among their former employers.
World Cup 2026 will boast more teams and thus more managers than any finals tournament in history. With 48 World Cup squads set to descend on the United States, Canada and Mexico in June, it's inevitable that some Premier League gaffers would be among them.
A total of 14 of the managers and head coaches set to participate at World Cup 2026 have held the top job at clubs in England, while New Zealand boss Darren Bazeley will be one of two English managers at the tournament.
Sabri Lamouchi of Tunisia managed Nottingham Forest and Cardiff City in the EFL. Stale Solbakken of Norway did the same with Wolverhampton Wanderers, as did Panama's Thomas Christiansen with Leeds United.
The most recently appointed head coach at the World Cup will be Carlos Queiroz, who was given the Ghana job in April after the sacking of Otto Addo. He had two spells as Alex Ferguson's assistant manager at Manchester United.
11 World Cup 2026 managers have taken charge of teams in the Premier League.
Carlo Ancelotti
Carlo Ancelotti has a remarkable managerial record. He's a league champion in all five top European leagues and a five-time winner of the Champions League, and he was no joke as a player either.
Ancelotti won the Premier League and FA Cup in his time in charge of Chelsea, the first of his two clubs in England. The 66-year-old Italian will lead Brazil at his first World Cup as a manager.
Marcelo Bielsa
Leeds United supporters need no reminder of their time under Marcelo Bielsa, who guided them back to the Premier League in 2020.
The 70-year-old is in his third senior international managerial role and will take two-time winners Uruguay to World Cup 2026 having previously managed at the World Cup with both Argentina and Chile.
Steve Clarke
Scotland boss Steve Clarke was a Premier League player for Chelsea, where he developed his coaching skills after a spell at Newcastle United. He became the head coach of West Bromwich Albion in 2012, leading the Baggies to a top-eight in the Premier League.
Clarke is the first Scotland manager to qualify for the World Cup since 1998 and has also taken them to back-to-back European Championships after five consecutive tournaments away.
Ronald Koeman
The scourge of England in qualification for World Cup 1994, Ronald Koeman is in his second spell in charge of the Netherlands and heading for his first World Cup as national team boss.
Koeman spent three years in England, managing Southampton and Everton between 2014 and 2017. His extensive managerial career also includes spells in the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal.
Julen Lopetegui
Qatar manager Julen Lopetegui arrived in England with bags of experience in Spain and Portugal, including a period in charge of the Spain national team that ended abruptly on the eve of World Cup 2018.
World Cup 2026 will be his first and comes after unsuccessful and unhappy spells as the manager of Wolverhampton Wanderers and West Ham United.
Jesse Marsch
Another former Leeds manager, American Jesse Marsch will manage co-hosts Canada at World Cup 2026. The former Chicago Fire midfielder is a product of the Red Bull coaching school, a process that started when he joined New York Red Bulls in 2015.
His Red Bull journey took him to Red Bull Salzburg, RB Leipzig and Leeds, where he succeeded Bielsa but was sacked after a year with the team on its way to relegation. Marsch was appointed to the Canada job in 2024.
Roberto Martinez
Roberto Martinez is heading to his third World Cup. He was in charge of Belgium in both 2018 and 2022 but this time it's Portugal who'll have a chance to fulfil their promise under the Spaniard.
Martinez ended his playing career in England and started his managerial career in Wales with Swansea City. He managed Wigan Athletic and Everton in the Premier League between 2009 and 2016.
Mauricio Pochettino
Like Canada, co-hosts United States will have a former Premier League manager embarking upon his first World Cup finals. Mauricio Pochettino took over from Gregg Berhalter in 2024.
Three of Pochettino's five club jobs were in England, where he achieved reverence at Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur but wasn't able to navigate the chaos of Chelsea to meaningful success.
Graham Potter
Former Brighton & Hove Albion boss Graham Potter was the spearhead of a Seagulls exodus to Chelsea but was another gaffer who fell by the wayside amid the turmoil of modern-day Stamford Bridge.
The West Midlands-born manager had a brief spell in charge of West Ham in 2025 before he was given the Sweden job and guided them to the World Cup finals by winning one of the UEFA qualification play-off paths.
Ralf Rangnick
67-year-old German Ralf Rangnick began his managerial career in 1983 and is now in his first international role and steered Austria to the World Cup for the first time since 1998.
At that time, Rangnick was on the cusp of stepping up into top-level management with Stuttgart. After diverting his career through the Red Bull system and becoming a strategic influence on the programme, he had a brief spell as the manager of Manchester United in 2021-22.
Having previously agreed to work at Old Trafford on a consultancy basis, Rangnick made the jump to Austria in 2022 instead.
Thomas Tuchel
An avowed acolyte of the Premier League and English football, former Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint-Germain manager Thomas Tuchel fulfilled something of a dream when he took over as Chelsea boss in 2021.
Tuchel led the Blues to Champions League glory but his relationship with the club's ownership gradually soured and he was sacked the following year.
After a spell in charge of Bayern Munich, he was named as the permanent successor to former England manager Gareth Southgate. World Cup 2026 will be his first tournament as an international manager.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
