Managerial casualties in the top 5 European football leagues
Two of the top teams in Europe decided to sack their managers last week. Bayern Munich and Tottenham parted ways with Julian Nagelsmann and Antonio Conte, respectively, in a controversial fashion. At the weekend, there were another two casualties in the English Premier League as Graham Potter and Brendan Rodgers, the managers of Chelsea and Leicester, were dismissed. All this prompted SportingPedia to investigate how many managers have been fired this season across the European top five leagues.
- 40% or 39 of the 98 teams in the European Top 5 leagues have different managers than the ones they had at the start of the season
- 7 of these 39 teams have changed their manager more than once – Verona, Elche, Sevilla, Chelsea, Southampton, Angers, and Montpellier
- The English Premier League leads the way with 12 managerial casualties
- The Premier League and French Ligue 1 have seen 50% of the teams change their managers, the highest number across the Top 5 leagues
- The Spanish team Elche holds the record with three managerial changes this season
- Only five Spanish teams have changed their managers, the lowest number across the top five European leagues
- Bayern Munich has been the only team to change coaches, despite being in the top 3 in the standings at the time
- Jorge Almiron of Elche has been the manager with the shortest spell in charge of a team this term (26 days)
- The now-ex-Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers was the longest-serving manager who has lost his job this season – 1495 days
- Only the Bundesliga has yet to witness multiple managerial changes in one team
Premier League – 12 managerial changes (10 teams)
The Premier League this season is swapping managers with a record pace. Only 28 rounds have passed, and the English top tier has already seen 10 of the teams change the manager who began the campaign. Looking at the numbers from a different angle, 12 different managers have lost their jobs. In this number, we have not included the case of Graham Potter leaving Brighton only to move to Chelsea, which was more of a transfer than a sacking.
The Premier League is one of the three top European leagues where more than one team has already sacked two managers, namely Southampton and Chelsea. Leicester and Brendan Rodgers parted ways on Sunday, some 1495 days after his appointment, with the Northern Irishman becoming the manager with the longest spell who’s been axed this term. On the other hand, Nathan Jones was released from his duties at Southampton just 94 days after taking over the team.
Ligue 1 – 11 managerial changes (9 teams)
The French Ligue 1 has seen 11 managers relieved of their duties so far in the 2022–23 season. Nine different teams have shown the door to their coaches, with Montpellier and Angers leading the way, having already made two managerial changes. Abdel Boyhazama is the Ligue 1 manager with the shortest spell this campaign, as he remained at the helm of Angers for a mere 99 days. Jean-Marc Furlan was dismissed as Auxerre’s manager 1198 days into his tenure, making him the longest-serving fired head coach in Ligue 1 this season.
Serie A – 8 managerial changes (7 teams)
The Italian league has seen eight managerial changes throughout the season. Seven clubs have taken the decision to fire their coach, with Verona being the only Italian side to do it twice. Salvatore Bocchetti and Gabriele Cioffi managed Verona for only 50 and 102 days, respectively. The late Sinisa Mihajlovic was the first managerial casualty in Serie A this season and remains the head coach with the longest spell to be fired, with 1317 days at Bologna.
La Liga – 8 managerial changes (5 teams)
Only five La Liga teams have changed the manager who started the season. This is the lowest number across the best European leagues. Elche holds the record not only in Spain but across the top 5 leagues, as they have already replaced 3 managers. Sevilla is the other Spanish team that has fired two head coaches. Jorge Almiron led Elche for only 26 days—the shortest managerial reign across the top 5 leagues. Julen Lotepegui was at the helm of Sevilla for 1193 days before being axed in the early stage of the season, and his successor Jorge Sampaoli lasted only 165 days.
Bundesliga – 7 managerial changes (7 teams)
There have been seven managerial changes in the Bundesliga this season, with seven different teams opting to replace their coach. This makes the Bundesliga the only championship without multiple changes at the helm of one club. Bayern Munich recently sacked Julian Nagelsmann, despite the elimination of PSG from the Champions League. This is the only case this season in the top European Leagues when a team occupying one of the top three positions in the domestic championship decides to change its manager. Frank Kramer is the manager with the shortest spell, as he was sacked by Bochum just 110 days into his tenure. On the other hand, Thomas Reis of Bochum was dismissed after 1102 days in charge of the team.