Football Manager 2022: Best Coaches

The coaching team in FM 22 leads your training sessions, amongst other responsibilities that you can assign them, and consists of yourself, the Assistant Manager, Head of Youth Development, Head Performance Analyst, Performance Analysts, and other coaches which are split into Goalkeeping, General, and Fitness categories. It’s paramount that you have coaches who excel in each area of their highlighted attributes to ensure that every type of player improves. In this article we’re solely focusing on both General and Fitness Coaches.

Your coaching team can make all the difference when it comes to getting the very best out of your players on the pitch. They are of particular importance for nurturing the future stars of football, and to save you scouring the FM 22 databases we’ve compiled a list of the best coaches right here.

Choosing the best coaches in FM22

It’s important to have coaches who excel in each area of training to ensure that every player is benefiting from your sessions. The specific areas that you should be looking at for your General Coaches are the Attacking, Defending, Technical, and Tactical ratings, while your Fitness Coaches operate best with outstanding Fitness and Motivating attributes.

The coaches appearing in this article have been selected based on them possessing a high 155 Current Ability (CA) and a rating of at least 18 in the Coach job role.

At the foot of the page, you’ll find a full list of all of the best coaches in FM22.

Rodolfo Borrell (175 CA / 175 PA)

Team: Manchester City
Age: 50 years old
Wage: £30,000 p/w
Best Staff Role: Coach
Best Attributes: 18 Technical, 17 Attacking

Rodolfo Borrell is considered a top coach in the footballing world. The 50-year-old Spaniard also possesses a great reputation in FM22 along with a sharp technical mind, showcased in-game by his 18 technical and 17 attacking attributes.

A fantastic attacking coach is a highly sought-after commodity in FM22, and by hiring Borrell you can fill this need with his brilliant attributes in those areas. As an added bonus, Borrell also comes equipped with 16 motivating and 16 determination to get your players training to the best of their abilities.

Currently a coach at English giants Manchester City, Borrell began his non-playing career with another powerhouse of European football, Barcelona. After spending 12 years working in La Masia he left for the Greek second-tier side Iraklis Thessaloniki, but just six months later he had returned to Barcelona.

Just one year after Borrell’s return to Spain, Liverpool approached him to manage their under-18s team. Three years later he was managing the Merseysider’s academy, but it wasn’t long before Manchester City brought him to the Etihad.

Norbert Elgert (170 CA / 170 PA)

Team: Schalke 04
Age: 64 years old
Wage: £4,000 p/w
Best Staff Role: Coach
Best Attributes: 18 Mental, 17 Motivating

Boasting 170 CA, Norbert Elgert could improve almost any coaching team with his astute 18 mental and 17 motivating attributes.

Elgert is a top coach to try to pick up in FM22. His mental and motivating ratings are complemented by his 16 determination attribute, creating a great environment for your players to excel in. He also possesses 14 attacking, 14 defending, and 16 technical attributes, making him an excellent all-round coach.

Employed by Schalke 04 in the 2. Bundesliga, Elgert has spent his entire career in Germany including an ongoing 25-year stint with Schalke. Before his move to the Gelsenkirchen, he spent time with lower-tier German sides, FC Rhade, SG Wattenscheid, SuS Dinslaken, and SV Schermbeck, though he spent just five years collectively at these clubs until he returned to Schalke, where he had previously played.

Pepijn Lijnders (170 CA / 180 PA)

Team: Liverpool
Age: 38 years old
Wage: £35,000 p/w
Best Staff Role: Coach
Best Attributes: 17 Technical, 17 Motivating

Quickly building himself a reputation as a fantastic coach and assistant manager, Pepijn Lijnders’ combination of 17 technical and 17 motivating attributes make for a potent pairing in terms of player development.

Lijnders is another coach who specialises in the attacking technical side of the game, boasting 16 attacking and 17 technical attributes. Lijnders’ ratings are more well-rounded than other coaches found in FM 22, with modest 15 tactical, 15 mental, and 15 determination adding even more value to this young coach’s retinue.

Ljinders has risen through the coaching world and currently finds himself employed as Liverpool’s Assistant Manager chasing the top honours with the Premier League powerhouse. He started his coaching journey with PSV Eindhoven Youth as a Technical Coach before moving onto Portugal, filling the same role with FC Porto’s youth sides until he caught the eye of the Liverpool hierarchy and soon became an important figure in Merseyside. A stint as NEC Nijmegen’s Manager briefly split up his first five years as a red.

Hermann Gerland (170 CA / 174 PA)

Team: Free Agent
Age: 67 years old
Wage: N/A
Best Staff Role: Coach
Best Attributes: 18 Fitness, 18 Level of Discipline

Available on a free transfer, Hermann Gerland can excel in numerous roles within your backroom staff, but it’s his ability as a fitness coach which stands out from the rest with his 18 fitness and 18 level of discipline attributes.

If you’re looking to boost your fitness training, then Gerland is a perfect candidate, and his high fitness rating and free-agent status make him an appealing option. He also has the potential to be incredibly influential on the training ground due to his 17 motivating, 17 determination, 16 mental, and the aforementioned 18 level of discipline.

Hermann Gerland has had a stellar career spanning back to 1985, when he took the Assistant Manager job shortly before becoming Manager at VFL Bochum. He then went on to have brief spells with 1. FC Nuremberg and Bayern Munich’s youth teams, where he rose to the first team’s Assistant Manager.

After just a year he left Bayern Munich and took the reigns of various other German clubs, most notably Arminia Bielefeld, before returning to Bayern Munich. He remained there until the national team came calling, and he took the role of Germany Under 21s Assistant Manager.

Boro Primorac (169 CA / 175 PA)

Team: Hajduk Split
Age: 66 years old
Wage: £1,500 p/w
Best Staff Role: Coach
Best Attributes: 18 Technical, 17 Attacking

Boro Primorac possesses great coaching attributes which enable him to cover multiple areas of training, potentially easing the workload on your other staff, with his 17 attacking and 18 technical attributes the pick of the bunch.

Primarily leading your attacking technical sessions, Primorac can also lend his hand to the tactical side of the game with 16 tactical and 16 mental ratings. The veteran coach boasts excellent coaching ratings, but his 13 determination and 13 motivating ratings are a drawback – although they can easily be balanced by his colleague’s attributes.

Primorac is currently the Head of Youth Development for top-tier Croatian side Hajduk Split, having joined them in 2018 following 21 years at English giants Arsenal. He began his coaching career as the Manager of French side Cannes after he retired from playing there in 1990.

After two years he went from Cannes to manage Ligue 2 side Valenciennes. Just a season later he left, however, eventually ending up as Arsene Wenger’s Assistant Manager at Arsenal following spells as the Guinea National Team Manager and Japanese side Nagoya Grampus’ Assistant Manager.

Brian Kidd (168 CA / 168 PA)

Team: Free Agent
Age: 72 years old
Wage: N/A
Best Staff Role: Coach
Best Attributes: 16 Defending, 16 Mental

Veteran coach Brian Kidd is a top defensive mind in FM 22, sporting 16 defending and 16 mental attributes which he has developed through his years of experience at the top levels of English football.

Along with his impressive defending and mental ratings, Kidd also has 15 attacking, 15 technical, and 15 tactical attributes under his belt, making him more than capable of handling almost every area of training. A coach of this calibre being available as a free agent is an absolute bargain and would add to any team’s coaching staff.

Kidd has had a long career in coaching. His most recent position was Assistant Manager at English side Manchester City, while before his spell with the Cityzens, he spent time at Portsmouth and Sheffield United.

Prior to his stint at Sheffield United, Kidd was chosen to be Assistant Manager for the England national side. This was due to his impressive performance with Leeds United, whom he joined following a foray into management with Blackburn Rovers. That, in turn, was just his third management job following a ten-year run as Manchester United’s Assistant Manager, while before that he started his coaching career as Preston North End’s Manager.

Željko Buvač (165 CA / 175 PA)

Team: Dinamo Moscow
Age: 59 years old
Wage: £22,500 p/w
Best Staff Role: Coach
Best Attributes: 20 Tactical, 18 Attacking

One look at Željko Buvač’s attributes will be enough to convince you to try and sign him, with his massive 20 tactical rating and 18 attacking attribute just the tip of the iceberg.

Buvač will certainly be leading your attacking tactical training with some of the highest ratings in those areas in FM 22. He also boasts 16 defending, 16 technical, and 18 mental attributes, making him incredibly versatile on the training pitch. His 20 tactical rating can also have a positive impact the quality of advice you might receive from Buvač, and he will also be effective at teaching your players that side of the game.

After beginning his career as Manager of German side SG Neukirchen in 1998, three years later Buvač joined Mainz 05 as Assistant Manager, creating a formidable partnership with the then manager Jürgen Klopp. After seven years with Mainz 05 both Buvač and Klopp headed for Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.

During their seven-year spell with Dortmund, the duo won almost every honour available with just the Champions League alluding them. In 2015 the pair once again left together, joining English side Liverpool and transforming the club into a global force competing for the top honours. The pair’s run together ended when Buvač left in 2018, only to return to football as Dinamo Moscow’s Sporting Director after a two-year break from football.

All of the best coaches on FM22

In the table below you’ll find all of the coaches boasting the highest Current Ability in FM22, sorted by this attribute.

That’s all for the top coaches of FM22. If you’re looking to build your backroom team you may well find the perfect candidate in the table above.