Most successful managers who never played football professionally

Jose Mourinho

José Mourinho is arguably one of the most successful managers of all time. The Special One quit lower-league Portuguese football and became a youth academy coach at his hometown club Vitória de Setúbal in 1987. In 1992, Mourinho became the assistant and translator of Sir Bobby Robson at Sporting CP and followed him to FC Porto and FC Barcelona, where he would stay an assistant-manager under the Dutch manager Louis van Gaal. After four years at FC Barcelona, Mourinho got his first role as a head coach aged 37 at Benfica. 

Since then, the Portuguese manager has won silverware at FC Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United, and AS Roma. He’s currently the manager of the Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce. 

Julian Nagelsmann

Julian Nagelsmann, who currently manages the German national team, is considered one of the best young managers in world football. After a succession of injuries, Nagelsmann ended his playing career at age 20 with zero first-team appearances at FC Augsburg and 1860 Munich. Two years later, the German began his coaching career at the youth teams of TSG Hoffenheim before becoming the manager of the first team in 2015. The now 37-year-old led Hoffenheim to a third-place Bundesliga finish and Champions League qualification and later also led RB Leipzig to the semi-finals of the Champions League.

In 2021, Bayern Munich appointed Nagelsmann for a fee of €25 million, making him the most expensive transfer of a manager ever. At Bayern Munich, Nagelsmann won one Bundesliga title and two DFL-Supercups. 

Brendan Rodgers

Similar to Nagelsmann, Brendan Rodgers was forced to retire at the age of 20 because of a genetic knee condition. The English club Reading, where he retired before making his first-team debut, however, offered him a role as a coach and then an academy director. He joined José Mourinho at Chelsea and became a youth manager in 2004 and was later promoted to the manager of the reserve team in 2006. In 2008, the Northern Irishman got his role as a head manager in professional football at Watford. 

Rodgers would later lead Swansea City to Premier League promotion and Liverpool to a second-place finish. Even though his time at Liverpool was deemed to be a failure, Rodgers proved his worth as a manager at Celtic and Leicester City where he managed to add trophies to his cabinet. 

Maurizio Sarri

Maurizio Sarri played as an amateur footballer and worked as a banker before transitioning into coaching at the age of 30. The Italian manager landed his first big job in 2005 when he became the head coach at Serie B side Pescara. Sarri, who is known to be a heavy smoker, had a difficult managerial career until he became the coach of Empoli in 2012, whom he led to Serie A promotion in his second season. 

In 2015, Sarri was offered the job at Napoli and became known for his tactics worldwide. Stints at Chelsea, Juventus (with whom he won a league title) and Lazio have followed since for the now 65-year-old.