Chelsea have had surprisingly few managers over the course of their long history. Founded in 1905, they were on their third boss just two years later, so maybe an itchy trigger finger is in the club’s DNA! However, perhaps not, because that third Chelsea manager, David Calderhead, took charge of almost 1,000 matches.
The Scot was boss between 1907 and 1933, lasting over 9,000 days in the job. Five of the six Chelsea managers who followed him spent a minimum of just under six years as boss too. That patience continued to a greater or lesser extent over the years and meant that as we entered the 1990s, the club were only on their 18th manager.
It is safe to say things have changed over the past 20 years or so. In the 21st century alone, the club has had 23 different men in the dugout (including caretakers and interims). Who knows, that could well be 24 by the time you read this!
Obviously, many of the club’s managers from years gone by are no longer with us. However, what are some of the more recent former Chelsea supremos doing these days?
Chelsea’s Most Recent Exes
Chelsea have more exes than Leonardo DiCaprio (although it is safe to say the Hollywood star’s are better looking). We will not go into much detail about the club’s most recent ones, simply because many fans will perhaps already be familiar with what they are doing, or they may not yet be doing all that much.
- Calum McFarlane – Chelsea’s (caretaker) boss before Liam Rosenior took the reins, McFarlane remains at the club and is one of Chelsea’s coaches
- Enzo Maresca – Former Leicester boss is currently available for hire
- Mauricio Pochettino – Like all of the club’s managers since Antonio Conte, “Poch” spent less than two years at the club. He now manages the USA national side and hopes to do well at a home World Cup. A return to club management is likely to follow that tournament
- Frank Lampard – Club legend “Lamps” had one permanent and one caretaker role as manager. He is currently the boss at Coventry and, at the time of writing, is doing a very decent job
- Bruno Saltor – Saltor is another caretaker boss and is currently assistant coach to Igor Tudor at Spurs
- Graham Potter – Potter was an abject failure at the Bridge. He was then even worse at West Ham, before deciding that perhaps club football was best avoided for a while. The former Brighton boss is now head coach of Sweden and gave his welcome interview in Swedish having cut his managerial teeth in the country with Ostersund
Thomas Tuchel
Unsurprisingly, for a club who are current FIFA Club World Cup champions and who have won numerous European trophies, the Blues have some very high-profile names among their former bosses. As manager of the English national team, Tuchel is the Chelsea ex-manager with just about the highest-profile job in football, at least as far as many Premier League fans are concerned.
Tuchel recently agreed to extend his contract with England beyond the 2026 World Cup in North America. Thus far, he has done an excellent job, and there are signs he is building a squad capable of finally ending the countless years of hurt. He guided Chelsea to the 2021 Champions League and their first Club World Cup, too, and that winning habit was why he landed the England role.
Maurizio Sarri
Italian boss Sarri was a left-field appointment in 2018 and lasted less than a year. That was despite a win percentage of 61.90% that puts him among Chelsea’s best, and the fact that his side won the Europa League.
The Naples-born former defender went to Juventus after the Blues before joining Lazio ahead of the 2021 campaign, following a year out from the game. He resigned in 2024, but after a 15-month footballing sabbatical, he returned to the game. More specifically, he returned to Lazio, where he is currently head coach.
Antonio Conte
Before Sarri, Chelsea had another Italian at the helm, the fiery Antonio Conte. The Juventus legend did what he was brought in to do and won the Premier League (2016/17), adding the FA Cup the season after. Despite that, and winning more than 65% of his games in the Chelsea dugout, he was sacked after two years.
The former Italy manager took up the reins at Inter Milan in 2019, spending two seasons with the club and delivering the title. He then became Spurs boss in November 2021 but left “by mutual consent” with the club then fourth in the table, in March 2023. A little over 12 months later, he was back in the game, becoming Napoli boss.
He guided Napoli to the Serie A title in 2024/25, consequently becoming the first person to win the Italian title as manager of three different clubs (he won three championships with Juve before joining Chelsea). Including a Serie B title with Bari, he has won the league with five different clubs. He remains in charge at Napoli.
Guus Hiddink
Dutch boss Hiddink is one of a number of people to have two (or more) stints as Chelsea boss. Interestingly, on both occasions he was an interim manager, taking charge of 22 games first time around and 27 on his return.
Hiddink, who was born in 1946, is a wily old veteran, and during his long career, he
won plenty of silverware, mostly with PSV in his native Netherlands. He won the FA Cup with the Blues in his first spell there, but his footballing roles were limited after his second stint. He had about a year each with China’s youth teams and with minnows Curacao.
He officially retired upon stepping down from the Curacao job, aged 74, but briefly came out of retirement to assist Australia for two games in 2022.
Jose Mourinho
Mourinho is probably Chelsea’s most famous manager and, despite not guiding them to the Champions League, also their most successful. Over two spells at the Bridge, he won three Premier League titles, the FA Cup, and the League Cup three times.
In between managing Chelsea (first between 2004 and 2007, then from 2013 to 2015), he guided Inter Milan to the Treble and Real Madrid to La Liga. Since departing the Bridge the second time around, the charismatic Portuguese has managed Man United, Spurs, Roma, Fenerbahce and, since September 2025, Benfica.
At the time of writing, he remains in his role as Benfica head boss, boasting a 60% win rate after 35 games; his team were knocked out of the 2025/26 Champions League by former club Real Madrid.
Others
- Rafa Benitez – head coach of Greek side Panathinaikos
- Roberto Di Matteo – last manager job Aston Villa in 2016. Appointed advisor to the Korean side Jeonbuk in 2023
- Andre Villas-Boas – president of Porto since 2024
- Carlo Ancelotti – Don Carlo has been the head coach of Brazil since May 2025