Which football managers have been sacked this season?

Carlo Garganese

• 30 May 2023 13:07 BST
• 10 min read

Being a soccer manager is not the best career choice if you want job security. Indeed, football coaches are sacked on a regular basis as clubs make changes in order to achieve and maintain success, or at least try to.

Across Europe's top leagues and beyond, head coaches are either sacked and choose to resign frequently throughout the season, with the length of a manager's stint getting shorter and shorter with each passing year.

In fact, the next manager to be sacked is a vital part of football transfer news, as the impact of a managerial change can often make a huge difference both on and off the pitch. Furthermore, patience with managers grows ever thinner with each defeat a team suffers.

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European Golden Shoe 2022/23

The 2022-23 season is now almost over. The Premier League and Bundesliga campaigns have ended, and there is one matchday to go in La Liga, Serie A and Ligue 1 in addition to the domestic and European cup finals.

This season we have seen an unprecedented number of managerial casualties in England's Premier League, Spain's La Liga, Italy's Serie A, Germany's Bundesliga and France's Ligue 1.

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Below, FootballTransfers runs through every manager in Europe’s top five leagues who have left their posts this campaign.

Sacked/departed Premier League managers in 2022-23

Scott Parker became the first manager to be sacked in the Premier League in 2022-23 as he was given his marching orders on August 30. This followed a dismal start to the season in which AFC Bournemouth conceded 16 goals in three games, including a 9-0 defeat at Anfield against Liverpool.

Scott Parker was sacked by Bournemouth on August 30

Parker was replaced by Gary O'Neil, who was permanently appointed until 2024 in November.

The first high-profile manager to be sacked was Chelsea's Thomas Tuchel on September 7. Just 15 months after winning the Champions League, the German was sent packing after losing three of the first seven games of the season. He was replaced by Brighton's Graham Potter, who was himself suceeded at Falmer Stadium by former Sassuolo and Shakhtar Donetsk manager Roberto De Zerbi.

Tuchel lost his job on September 7

Wolves' Bruno Lage was the next to get the chop on October 2 after his team fell into the relegation zone. He was replaced by Julen Lopetegui.

Steven Gerrard received his marching orders on October 20 after a poor start to the season with Aston Villa. He was replaced by former Arsenal boss Unai Emery.

Ralph Hasenhuttl was under pressure at Southampton for many months before he was finally sacked on November 7. He was replaced by former Luton manager Nathan Jones, but his tenure only lasted four months.

Frank Lampard became the first Premier League casualty of 2023, losing his job in late January after a run of 11 defeats in 14 games. He was replaced by Sean Dyche.

Jesse Marsch paid the price for Leeds' relegation fight as he was sacked on February 6 after a dismal run of results. He was replaced by Javi Gracia, who only lasted until the start of May after a disastrous run. Sam Allardyce was called in to try and save Leeds until the end of the season.

Southampton's Nathan Jones followed in short order after a brief but disappointing spell at St Mary's.

It was another month before another dismissal came, this time to Crystal Palace's Patrick Vieira after the Arsenal legend led the London side on a run of form that saw them go winless in 2023 and drop to within three points of the Premier League relegation zone. Roy Hodsgon returned to the club in place of Vieira.

Tottenham manager Antonio Conte left his post after his contract was mutually terminated by Tottenham on March 26. The Italian went on a tirade against the club's players and owners after their 3-3 draw against Southampton before the international break and was sacked soon afterwards. His assistant Cristian Stellini was appointed as caretaker until the end of the season but lasted less than a month before he was sacked too, with Ryan Mason becoming the latest caretaker.

Brendan Rodgers was the first manager in April to get the chop as Leicester's 2-1 defeat to Crystal Palace put them very much in danger of relegation. That ended Rodgers' four-year spell with the club. Dean Smith took over until the end of the season.

On the same day, on April 2, Graham Potter was put out of his misery at Chelsea after a disastrous seven-month spell. He was sacked with Chelsea down in eleventh position. Frank Lampard returned as caretaker until the end of the season.

In the 2021-22 season, 10 managers were sacked in the Premier League, including Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Roy Hodgson, Marcelo Bielsa and Sean Dyche.

Sacked/departed La Liga managers in 2022-23

The first manager to be sacked in La Liga in 2022-23 was Francisco as his Elche side found themselves bottom of the table at the start of October.

Francisco Rodriguez was next to go, having been sacked by Elche with the club winless after seven matches and sitting bottom of the table. He was replaced on an interim basis by Alberto Gallego, before Jorge Almiron was appointed as full-time head coach.

A day later, Julen Lopetegui was given the sack by Sevilla - just over two years after winning the Europa League. Jorge Sampaoli took his place but failed to reverse Sevilla's fortunes and was sacked himself on March 21. Jose Luis Mendilibar was chosen to replace him.

Unai Emery left his job at Villarreal on October 24 in order to take the vacant post at Aston Villa. He was succeeded by Quique Setien.

Eduardo Coudet was sacked by Celta Vigo at the start of November and replaced by Carlos Carvalhal.

Jorge Almiron was sacked by Elche before the World Cup break after just three weeks in charge. Sergio Mantecon took over as caretaker manager for nine days before Pablo Machin took the job on a permanent basis. Elche remain winless in the league.

Despite only being appointed in the summer, Gennaro Gattuso was sacked by Valencia at the end of January after a run of one win in 10 games left the club 14th in La Liga. He was replaced by Ruben Baraja.

Elche made another managerial change in March, sacking Pablo Machin with the club bottom and 14 points off safety in La Liga.

April 3 was a bad day for La Liga managers as two were sacked in the form of Pacheta for Valladolid and Diego Martinez for Espanyol.

With Getafe in the relegation zone, Quique Sanchez Flores got the chop on April 29.

In the 2021-22 season, 11 managers were sacked in La Liga, including Ronald Koeman losing his job at Barcelona.

Sacked/departed Serie A managers in 2022-23

Sinisa Mihajlovic was the first manager to be sacked in Serie A on September 6 as Bologna found themselves only one point above the drop. He was replaced by ex-Inter and PSG midfielder Thiago Motta.

Sinisa Mihajlovic was the first manager to be sacked in Serie A in 2022-23

The second manager to go was Giovanni Stroppa, who was sacked by Monza owner Silvio Berlusconi after the team earned just one point from the first six games. He was replaced by rookie Raffaele Palladino.

Sampdoria were in takeover talks in the early weeks of the season and manager Marco Giampaolo was dismissed on October 2 after taking two points from their first eight games. He was replaced by former Inter midfielder Dejan Stankovic.

The next to get the sack was Verona manager Gabriele Cioffi on October 11, as they sat in the relegation zone. He was replaced by Salvatore Bocchetti, who himself was demoted to assistant coach after a poor run of results on December 4. Bocchetti was succeeded in the head coach role by Marco Zaffaroni.

January saw two managers lose their jobs in quick succession. Cremonese boss Massimiliano Alvini was sacked with his side bottom of the table and winless after 18 games. He was replaced by Davide Ballardini.

Davide Nicola was relieved of his duties after Salernitana's humiliating 8-2 defeat to Atalanta in January but bizarrely reinstated only two days later.

Nicola didn't last much longer, though, as he was sacked for good in February and replaced by Paulo Sousa. On the same day Nicola was sacked, Spezia's Luca Gotti was also axed. Gotti was replaced by Leonardo Semplici.

In the 2021-22 season, 10 managers were sacked in Serie A, including Walter Mazzarri and Andriy Shevchenko.

Sacked/departed Bundesliga managers in 2022-23

Domenico Tedesco was the first Bundesliga manager to be sacked on September 7 after Leipzig won only one of their first five games of the league season, also losing their opening Champions League match to Shakhtar. He was replaced by Marco Rose.

Nagelsmann's Bayer trailed Dortmund with just nine games left.

He was followed by Thomas Reis, who was relieved of his duties by Bochum with the team losing six out of six Bundesliga games to start the season. Reis was permanently replaced by former Vitesse Arnhem coach Thomas Letsch.

The next coach to go was on October 5 as Gerardo Seoane was sacked by struggling Bayer Leverkusen and replaced by former midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Pellegrino Matarazzo was the next to get axed on October 10 by Stuttgart. He was eventually replaced by Bruno Labbadia on December 5. Labbadia lasted less than four months until he was sacked on April 3 and replaced by Sebastian Hoeness.

October proved to be a bad month for sackings in Germany as Frank Kramer was handed his marching orders on October 19 with Schalke in penultimate place. Thomas Reis took his place.

It was another four months until the next Bundesliga coach was sacked as Andre Breitenreiter was axed by Hoffenheim on February 6.

The biggest news of the season in Germany came with Bayern Munich deciding to part ways with Julian Nagelsmann on March 24. He was immediately replaced by Thomas Tuchel, who had been out of work since his Chelsea dismissal in September. Things have not gone well for Tuchel.

With Hertha Berlin bottom of the league, Sandro Schwarz was sacked on April 16 and replaced by Pal Dardai.

Five Bundesliga managers were sacked in the 2021-22 season, including Mark Van Bommel and Jesse Marsch.

Sacked/departed Ligue 1 managers in 2022-23

Peter Bosz became the first Ligue 1 coach of the season to be sacked on October 9 after a bad start to the season. He was replaced by former PSG coach Laurent Blanc.

Bosz was followed to days later by Michel Der Zakarian and Jean-Marc Furlan, who left Brest and Auxerre respectively.

Peter Bosz was the first Ligue 1 manager to go this season

The flurry of Ligue 1 coaches being sacked in October continued shortly after as Oscar Garcia was booted by Reims and Oliver Dall'Oglio by Montpellier.

Gerard Baticle resigned on November 4 with Angers bottom of Ligue 1. He was replaced by Abdel Bouhazama, who then resigned on March 7.

Bruno Irles became the last Ligue 1 manager to go before the World Cup when he was saked by Troyes on November 8. Irles was replaced by Patrick Kisnorbo.

January 9 was a bad day for managers in Ligue 1 as two coaches got the chop. Julien Stephan was sacked with Strasbourg struggling in penultimate place, while Lucien Favre also was axed with Nice underperforming in the middle of the table.

Romain Pitau was the next manager to be sacked, on February 7, as he was replaced by Michel Der Zakarian at Montpellier.

Antoine Kombouare was sacked on May 9 as Nantes desperatey tried to avoid relegation after falling into the drop zone. Pierre Aristouy came in.

The 2021-22 season saw only four Ligue 1 managers sacked from their post, including Claude Puel and Niko Kovac.