Marcello Lippi, 1996 Best Club Coach of the Year, first winner of the award
The IFFHS World's Best Club Coach is an association football award given annually, since 1996, to the most outstanding club coach as voted by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS), an autonomous football federation working without the investment or support of FIFA or UEFA. The votes in 1996 were cast by IFFHS's editorial staff, as well as experts from 89 countries spanning six continents. Since then, the votes have been now awarded by 81 experts and selected editorial offices from all of the continents.[1] In 2020, an award for women's club coaches was introduced. The current men's recipient is Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola. The current women's recipient is Barcelona coach Jonatan Giráldez.
Public reception
The award is officially recognised by FIFA despite the IFFHS not being affiliated with them.[citation needed] However, as the award is usually awarded based on statistics rather than individual merits, it is not held in high regard by some football fans.[2] Four-time winner José Mourinho once jokingly stated that the IFFHS were slow in handing over the award claiming he had not received his award from 2010 in 2012.[3]
Men's winners
The award is awarded at the end of the year. The winning coach and the runner-up in the rankings are awarded a gold and silver trophy respectively at the World Football Gala.[4] Below is a list of the previous men's winners and runners-up since the first award in 1996.[5]
José Mourinho, 2012 Best Club Coach of the Year, and a record four-time winner of the award
The World's Best Man Coach of the Decade (2001–2010)
Arsenal's Arsène Wenger won the first World Coach of the Decade award
In 2011, the IFFHS awarded an additional award to coaches by combining the points awarded in the annual World's Best Club Coach awards, to the coach who had gained the most points collectively over the previous ten years to determine the best coach of the previous decade. This World Coach of the Decade award was awarded to Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, despite the fact he had never won the annual World's Best Club Coach award.[28][29]
