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A great player is not always a great manager.
We've seen plenty of them - Maradona was one of the greatest ever on the pitch, but his spells on the touchline, for both club and country, were nothing short of disasters.
It takes a special breed of player - perhaps the more intellectual as opposed to the instinctual footballer, to be the very best, both as a player and as a manager. Not to mention the fact that were you to pull it off, your entire life would probably have been devoted in service of the beautiful game.
Note that ranking this list takes into account achievements/stature as a player in addition to those as a manager.
Here are the 10 greatest footballers turned managers of all time.
Honourable Mentions
Fabio Capello
The Italian's star as a manager dimmed after a dismal spell with England, but his achievements with AC Milan, Roma and Juventus, both as a player and manager will never be forgotten, winning a stunning 17 trophies with the three giants of Italian football in his time as a player and as a manager. His La Liga titles with Real Madrid weren't 'pretty' but came at a time when the club needed the stability brought about by success.
Brian Clough
The 3rd most prolific goal-scorer in the Football League, Brian Clough's lack of trophies as a player is the only reason why he does not get into the top 10, although that is comfortably offset with his achievements with Nottingham Forest as a manager, including holding the record for the longest unbeaten spell until they were eclipsed by Arsenal's Invincibles.
#10 Jupp Heynckes
Very few men are ever treasured by two giant clubs in the same nation, but Jupp Heynckes is a special one. He made his name as a star forward for that legendary Borussia Monchengladbach team of the 70s, winning multiple Bundesliga titles along with a UEFA Cup victory, becoming the third most prolific player ever in the history of the German league.
Heynckes also was an integral part of the West Germany team that won the Euros in 1972 and the FIFA World Cup in 1974, as he finished his entire playing career in his homeland. As a manager, Heynckes was well travelled, achieving varying degrees of success in Spain, Portugal and Germany.
What will stand out for him are two UEFA Champions League wins with Bayern Munich and Real Madrid as well as multiple Bundesliga titles with the Bavarians.
Trophies won as a player: 8
Trophies won as a manager: 12
#9 Kenny Dalglish
'King Kenny' to almost every Liverpool supporter, Dalglish had more than his fair share of crowns atop his head. The superstar was already a record breaker at Celtic when he moved to Liverpool, where his penchant for goals saw the Reds dominate English football in the 80's with Dalglish also winning three European Cups with Liverpool.
He went on transition into a player-manager role towards the end of his career, continuing Liverpool's dominance, although when he returned to manage the same club decades later, all he could manage was a solitary League Cup.
Dalglish also oversaw Blackburn Rovers' stunning march to the Premier League title in the 1994/95 season, thus making him one of the select few managers to win the English top-flight with multiple clubs.
Trophies won as a player: 26
Trophies won as a manager: 12
#8 Vicente del Bosque
The only manager to have ever won the UEFA Champions League, the FIFA World Cup, the European Championship and the FIFA Club World Cup, Vicente del Bosque's pedigree as a manager simply cannot be questioned. The Spaniard's playing career does fly a bit under the radar, which is quite unfair given how important he is to the history of Real Madrid.
Much like his quiet, unassuming nature, Del Bosque carried that over to his role as a defensive midfielder, holding things together as he won 5 La Liga trophies with the club, while also winning multiple Copa del Rey titles, although he found game time hard to come by with the national team.
As a manager, Del Bosque oversaw Spain's most glorious era, that might never ever be replicated again, as he won both the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the Euros in 2012. At the club level, the veteran Spaniard was the one to bring Real Madrid back from a middling few years, winning multiple Liga and Champions League titles at the turn of the century.
Trophies won as a player: 9
Trophies won as a manager: 10
#7 Miguel Munoz
Real Madrid's greatest manager, ever.
Not many men can survive more than a couple of years in charge of Los Blancos, and Munoz did it for a stunning 15 years. His playing career was no small feat either. Holding fort at the heart of Madrid's midfield, Munoz was part of the side that dominated the European Cup in the late 50s as well as lifting 4 La Liga titles with Madrid.
Munoz did not wait in his transition from player to manager, immediately overseeing the 1959/60 European Cup triumph, while also ensuring that Madrid's domestic dominance continued, with Los Blancos winning 5 league titles in a row under his stewardship.
Overall, Munoz ended his managerial career with an impressive win percentage of 53%, but those numbers could have been higher if not for later spells in charge of Granada, Las Palmas and Sevilla. The legend ended his managerial career with Spain, overseeing a heartbreaking loss to France in the 1984 Euros.
Trophies won as a player: 9
Trophies won as a manager: 14
#6 Mario Zagallo
Just 8 years after lifting his second FIFA World Cup trophy as a player, Mario Zagallo came back and won it as a manager, becoming the first ever person to have ever done so in history, a feat which has only since been repeated once.
Having never played outside his native Brazil as a player, Zagallo's feats only came to global attention in the 1958 and 1962 FIFA World Cups, although he was overshadowed by his more 'illustrious' teammates. Nevertheless, the wingers runs down the left became stuff of legend, and feature prominently in any documentaries about those great Brazilian sides.
Zagallo spent the majority of his career at Flamengo and Botafogo, but channelled his inner journeyman as a manager, overseeing a staggering 9 clubs and 5 countries in a managerial career that has spanned 5 decades, although it was only his achievements with the national team (winning the World Cup as a manager in 1970, and as an assistant coach in 1994, while Brazil finished runners up in 1998 under him) that were of note.
Trophies won as a player: 9
Trophies won as a manager: 6
#5 Zinedine Zidane
Someone who is sure to move up this list in the future, Zinedine Zidane's achievements as a player are well documented, and he is generally considered to be one of the greatest players of all time. However, Zidane is unfairly not given as much credit as he deserves for his feats in his nascent career as a manager, often described as 'lucky' for overseeing a very strong Real Madrid squad - which completely forgets what Rafa Benitez managed to achieve with the same personnel.
Zidane has already emulated the legendary Arrigo Sacchi as the only manager to lift the European Cup/UEFA Champions League two seasons in a row. His success with Real Madrid as a manager seems sure, as he's displayed a clever balancing act of tactical imposition married to individual brilliance.
As a player, Zidane was without compare, often considered one of the greatest ever to have played the game. A Ballon d'Or winner, Zidane's ability to grab the spotlight in finals (1998 and 2006 FIFA World Cups, 2001/02 UEFA Champions League) was simply a sign of greatness.
Trophies won as a player: 15
Trophies won as a manager: 7
#4 Franz Beckenbauer
One of the few people in the world to have won the FIFA World Cup as a player (1974) and as a manager (1970), Franz Beckenbauer has had plenty of impact on the beautiful game, although his more recent 'effects' on the game have led to an investigation where he faces upto five years in prison.
Hardly the whitest of white as an administrator, but Beckenbauer as a player was something to behold. He brought into existence the role of a libero, a central defender who often contributed to attacks, and such was his contribution to Bayern Munich and West Germany's success, that he won the Ballon d'Or twice, one of the few defenders to have ever done so.
Der Kaiser won the European Cup thrice as a player, but could only win the UEFA Super Cup as a manager for Bayern, although he did lift the Ligue 1 title overseeing Marseille and the Bundesliga with Bayern.
Trophies won as a player: 21
Trophies won as a manager: 4
#3 Pep Guardiola
The man who perfected tiki-taka and made it a religion - but sadly enough, Pep Guardiola's playing career often gets overlooked. The Spaniard was part of the Dream Team that took Spain by storm in the early 90's, conducting play at the heart of midfield. By the time he left Barcelona, Guardiola had won La Liga 6 times, while also lifting the European Cup in 1991-92.
However, it was his managerial career that the Blaugrana will forever remember, as Pep took over a club in crisis and with the aid of Lionel Messi unleashed an era of domination that was arguably the best Barcelona team of all time. In 4 eventful seasons at the club, Barcelona swept away everyone who stood before them, with record-breaking treble seasons becoming the norm.
Guardiola's exacting standards and ridiculous attention to detail carried over to Bayern Munich and now Manchester City, although he has yet to win the UEFA Champions League again, after lifting two with Barcelona. A win percentage of 75.59% throughout his career is something staggering, despite the top teams he has managed.
Trophies won as a player: 17
Trophies won as a manager: 21
#2 Carlo Ancelotti
To the modern football fan, Carlo Ancelotti's exploits as a player may not be known, but the Italian was a defender supreme, being integral to success at Roma and AC Milan after starting out at Parma. Over 16 seasons as a player, the Italian played 441 times, scoring 41 goals, but it was his defensive leadership that ensured he finished his playing career with 3 Serie A titles and 2 European Cups.
However, Ancelotti went on to trump his stellar playing career as a manager, becoming the only one to ever win the UEFA Champions League three times - twice with AC Milan and of course, that 'La Decima' title with Real Madrid. The Italian has managed some of the biggest names in football, with his easygoing nature the perfect style to oversee a dressing room full of egos.
The result? A win percentage of 58.94% after managing 1023 games.
Trophies won as a player: 12
Trophies won as a manager: 19
#1 Johan Cruyff
There can be no bones about it - Johan Cruyff is the man who affected football the most. He revolutionized the game, both as a player and as a manager, going on to deeply change the fortunes of massive clubs like FC Barcelona and AFC Ajax, while also changing Netherlands from a mediocre side to a footballing powerhouse, in a footballing career that spanned decades.
Cruyff learned from the great Rinus Michels himself but already had the makings of a manager on the football pitch, bringing to life the concept of Total Football as Netherlands and Ajax found success with his philosophy. As a player, Cruyff won the Ballon d'Or three times, scoring 369 goals in 661 games in a career spanning two decades, lifting the European Cup thrice and also winning the Eredivisie multiple times aside from a solitary La Liga title.
As a manager, Cruyff won four league titles with Barcelona in addition to the creation of the Dream Team that lifted the European Cup, while his influence in the revolutionizing of La Masia cannot be quantified. The blip in his managerial career was at Ajax, where plenty of disagreements with the board overshadowed the KNVB Cup and UEFA Cup Winner's Cup trophies.
Trophies won as a player: 23
Trophies won as a manager: 14
