FIFA Men's Coach of the Year Award Odds

The clear favourite, and deservedly so. After taking the reins at Bayern Munich in the wake of Niko Kovac’s dismissal in December 2019, Hansi Flick proceeded to embark on the most successful debut season by a manager in Europe since Pep Guardiola’s debut campaign with Barcelona back in 2008/09.

Assistant to Niko Kovac throughout 2019, Flick’s effect on the Bayern squad was instantaneous, spurring an immediate upturn in form as a series of underwhelming performances - culminating in a 5-1 defeat away at Eintracht Frankfurt, resulting in Kovac’s dismissal - were brushed under the carpet as Bayern lost only 3 of the next 41 games proceeding the German’s appointment.

Not only did Bayern claim a historic eighth consecutive Bundesliga title, but the Bavarians also won the domestic DFB-Pokal and the Champions League, making it both their 13th league and cup double and their second continental treble - a landmark only previously reached by Barcelona.

Bayern’s unwavering form under Flick shows no sign of ceasing this season, either, as they sit top of the Bundesliga table and, after beating Sevilla 3-2 in UEFA Super Cup, with a trophy already to their name. Seasons as successful as that of Bayern Munich in 2019/20 seldom come around in a club’s lifespan, never mind in the first season of a manager’s rein.

Understandably so, Flick will take some beating and he was last priced at 1/16.

A painful 30 year wait for a domestic league title was finally ended on Merseyside as Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool raced to a first-ever Premier League title. Liverpool began the 2019/20 season as they intended to go on: with a trophy. The club’s fourth UEFA Super Cup title was claimed in August, courtesy of a penalty shootout victory over Europa League winners Chelsea in Istanbul.

In the Premier League, it looked as though Liverpool might emulate Arsenal and become only the second Premier League team to complete a season without defeat. The Reds completely swept away the rest of England’s top tier, winning 26 of their first 27 games - the sole blemish being a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford. The Premier League’s inaugural winter break in early February seemed, counterproductively, somewhat disruptive for Klopp’s men as their level of performance was never quite the same in the aftermath.

Upon returning from their two-week hiatus, Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid and suffered their first league defeat of the season - a 3-0 thumping at eventually relegated Watford. Despite not quite matching the level of excellence displayed pre-break, Liverpool still claimed the league title with a record seven games to spare and finished the year with a whopping 99 points - the second-highest in English top-flight history.

Add to that a first-ever FIFA Club World Cup title in Qatar, with wins over Monterrey and Flamengo, and we can safely call 2019/20 a highly successful season for Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp and their most notable in three decades.

Julen Lopetegui entered the Sevilla job with his reputation somewhat tarnished: a national scandal involving himself and prospective employers, Real Madrid, saw him sacked by his own national team on the eve of the World Cup, which was subsequently followed by failure in Madrid.

Sevilla started the season well, winning three of their opening four fixtures with Lopetegui immediately imprinting his footballing philosophy on Los Nervionenses. Spearheaded by a centre back partnership of Diego Carlos and Jules Kounde, Lopetegui moulded Sevilla into La Liga’s 3rd tightest defence, with only Barcelona and Real Madrid conceding less. Such doggedness led Sevilla to a fourth-place finish and back into the Champions League - a competition they’d failed to qualify for the previous year.

But it was said failure that facilitated their crowning moment of 2019/20: a record 6th UEFA Europa League title. The Europa League is Sevilla’s stomping ground but this time around they won it against the odds. A quarterfinal win over Wolverhampton Wanderers was followed by successive upsets: a 2-1 win over Manchester United and, in the final, a 3-2 victory over Inter Milan.

Sevilla were deserved winners and now boast the record of holding six Europa League crowns, three more than any other club. Lopetegui’s Sevilla journey is still in its infancy and he’ll be hoping he can build on his early success. Regardless of how things play out, though, he’ll always remember the 2019/20 campaign rather fondly.

Returning for a second spell at the club, much was expected of three-time Champions League winner Zinedine Zidane. The task at hand was anything but easy, with Zidane inheriting a squad at a drastically different stage of its development than the one which he had left as there was no Ronaldo, Marcelo and Gareth Bale, whilst Luka Modric and others were clearly past their past.

Such handicaps proved - at least in La Liga - inconsequential as Zidane transformed Los Blancos into Spain’s top outfit once more, winning their 34th La Liga title - a trophy which has, at the hands of bitter rivals Barcelona, eluded them largely this past decade. It’s that reason precisely that Zidane has made no secret of his endearment towards the La Liga crown, with the Frenchman believing it’s the toughest trophy to win.

Despite an underperformance in the Champions League, Zidane can take heart from the fact that his side conceded just 25 goals in the league and claimed an 11th Supercopa de España title.

The 2019/20 was Zidane’s first full season back in charge at the Bernabéu and while he’ll certainly be looking to improve this time around, all in all, he’ll be extremely pleased with his side’s achievements.

Eyebrows across Europe were raised somewhat when Marcelo ‘El Loco’ Bielsa took the reins at Leeds United back in 2018. A well-documented inspiration for high profile managers such as Pep Guardiola and Mauricio Pochettino, very few expected Bielsa to accept a role at a club playing their football in a domestic second tier, let alone a club underwhelming at that level.

Bielsa, though, seemingly relished the challenge and immediately transformed an average Leeds side, turning them from mid-table mediocrity to play-off contenders with little money spent in his first season.

After suffering a painful play-off defeat in his debut season, Bielsa and Leeds rebounded spectacularly the following year, winning the Championship by a comfortable 10 point margin and playing the most eye-catching football in the league. It might seem odd to some to include the manager of a second division club among the names of coaches with major European honours to their name, but what Bielsa has done with Leeds deserves recognition.

The Whites had finished 13th - and 15 points off the play-offs - prior to Bielsa’s appointment and, with largely the same squad, Bielsa turned them into by far the best side in the division in under 18 months - all while playing a brand of football that is responsible for Bielsa being revered around the globe for his level of coaching.

He might not be the favourite, but Leeds’ achievements in 2019/20 mean his name deserves to be here.