Only founded in 1970 as a merger between Stade Saint-Germain and Paris FC, Paris Saint-Germain is already the most decorated club in French football history with over 50 domestic titles.
While much of the credit for this goes to the tsunami of cash pumped in by Qatar since 2011, credit is also due to the club’s ability to identify head coaches who can orchestrate an ever-ego-driven modern squad to titles.
Plenty of managers have come to Parc des Princes with an aim of becoming one of the greatest Paris Saint-Germain coaches of all-time, but only one has been able to bring PSG long-awaited UEFA Champions League glory.
Luis Enrique (2023 – Present)
Now in the midst of his third season as head coach in the French capital, Luis Enrique has already staked his claim as the greatest PSG coach of all time.
Through his 128 games to date, he’s won 91, drawn 20, and lost 17, boasting the fourth-best points per game rate of all PSG managers; essentially, very few times do the football odds for Enrique’s opponents come in.
Still, what makes the fitness-obsessed Spanish coach PSG’s ultimate appointment to date is that he went all the way in Europe’s top competition.
While the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League wasn’t the club's first taste of triumph on the continent, it is the prize the owners have continued to pump cash into the club to achieve.
That season, Enrique endured the headline departure of Kylian Mbappé to Real Madrid for free, brought in key players like João Neves, Désiré Doué, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, and Willian Pacho, pivoted Ousmane Dembélé to being his central striker, and flew to an obliteration of Inter Milan in the UCL Final.
Along with European glory, Enrique has consistently won the club silverware on the domestic stage, and presently boasts the second-largest trophy haul of all PSG coaches.
To date, he has added two Ligue 1 titles, two wins of the Coupe de France, two Trophée des Champions, the UEFA Super Cup, and the Champions League to the PSG trophy cabinet.
Laurent Blanc (2013-2016)
Laurent Blanc was one of the earliest to take up the increasingly toasty PSG hot seat after new owners came to the club, following on from the 18 months of Carlo Ancelotti, who was preceded by Antoine Kombouaré through the transition.
The Frenchman was in the post for what remains a record count of games for a PSG manager at 173, during which, Blanc orchestrated a continued run of success to the tune of 126 wins, only 16 losses, and an average of 2.36 points per game.
Domestic competitions became near-guaranteed wins for PSG under Blanc. As the Ligue 1 betting favourites each season, he won all three titles while in the post, as well as the Coupe de la Ligue three times, the Coupe de France twice, and Trophée des Champions thrice.
Even though European glory eluded him, Blanc remains among the greatest PSG coaches of all-time owing to his stellar win rate and collection of domestic accolades.
Thomas Tuchel (2018-2020)
The season after the new owners landed, Paris Saint-Germain became Champions League regulars, but couldn’t push past the Quarter-Finals in four consecutive seasons.
This, however, was followed by three seasons of unceremonious losses in the Round of 16, including in Thomas Tuchel’s first season in charge. In 2019/20, however, he took PSG all the way to the Final and a narrow 1-0 loss.
Boasting the furthest run in the club’s UCL history, he was given another season in charge, but a falling out between the German and the club’s recruiting department ultimately led to him leaving in December 2020.
Even so, Tuchel secured the biggest share of Ligue 1 prize money in his two full seasons twice, won the Trophée des Champions twice, and hoisted the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue once.
His win rate and trophy haul aren’t quite a weighty as the next manager on this list, but European success has helped to grant Thomas Tuchel this place among the greatest Paris-Saint Germain coaches of all time.
Unai Emery (2016-2018)
Paris Saint-Germain were very used to winning nearly everything in France by the time they appointed Unai Emery, but in his first season, he let a four-season run of Ligue 1 triumphs slip.
The 2016/17 season saw AS Monaco fly to the title with 95 points and a +76 goal difference to PSG’s 87 points and +56.
Among their star players that season were Radamel Falcao, Bernardo Silva, Thomas Lemar, Fabinho, João Moutinho, Benjamin Mendy, and, of course, Kylian Mbappé.
Even so, ceding the trophy to Monaco that season couldn’t be overlooked by Emery’s domestic treble otherwise. That following season, he had to win it all.
Emery’s PSG came roaring back, winning the domestic quadruple, but European struggles persisted under the Spaniard, ultimately leading to his stint finishing at the end of his second campaign.
To date, Emery’s 2.42 points per game over 114 matches in charge – featuring 87 wins, 15 draws, and only 12 losses – stand as the best in club history, earning him a place among the greatest PSG coaches of all time.
Luis Fernandez (1994-1996)
Long before the big money era of Paris Saint-Germain, Luis Fernandez enjoyed a successful couple of seasons in the French capital, winning each of the domestic cups and landing silverware in a UEFA competition.
Formerly a defensive midfielder for the club, racking up over 220 appearances and 30 goals, he’d previously propelled Cannes to promotion to Division 1 as a player-manager, drawing the eye of PSG.
His attractive style of football reinvigorated the club, helping to pull them to the Champions League Semi-Finals in his first season. They’d lose stars George Weah and David Ginola in the summer, but that didn’t stop Fernandez.
The Spanish-born Frenchman would guide his team to the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1995/96, adding to his haul of the three major French cups by the close of his two seasons in charge.
It was a much more competitive Ligue 1 in Fernandez’s day, but he still managed to pull the club to third and then second in the final tables, helping his claim to being among the greatest PSG coaches of all time.
