This summer's Euro tournament is very different from past editions as it featured 24 teams. And given that the field was expanded, there's a huge range in ability and experience among the sides who arrived in France earlier this month. The same diversity applies, not surprisingly, to the coaches' salaries.
Some tacticians are paid quite well, whilst others basically did it for free. Let's take a look at who's who on the rich list and how they all stack up.
Who is the highest paid?
Up until their shock elimination by minnows Iceland, England's national team coach Roy Hodgson was the most-handsomely compensated tactician on this list. That honor now goes to Italian manager Antonio Conte. Have a look at how the others stack up:
Is there a correlation between the coaches' salaries and their results?
To some extent, yes. For starters, teams like this tournament's whipping boys Russia and Ukraine were dumped out at the group stages, and their coaches also were near the bottom of this list.
However, Slovakia managed to impress and deservedly make it to the round of 16 - despite Jan Kozak pulling in just £138,000 annually. And teams like Wales, Poland, and Croatia all made less than half a million, but their managers, Chris Coleman, Adam Nawalka, and Ante Cacic all saw their sides at least into the round of 16, with Wales and Poland making it to the quarter-finals.
At the opposite end of the spectrum will be Turkey, Austria, Spain, and England. Fatih Terim makes a whopping £2.7 million yearly, but the Crescent-Stars unfortunately did not make it out of their group. Austria's boss Marcel Koller is one of eight coaches to make £1 million or more, but his team were shockingly poor and crashed out after finishing bottom of their quartet.
As for Vicente Del Bosque, who made £2 million, Spain were solid, but not spectacular as they ended up losing back-to-back matches against Croatia and Italy en route to an early exit. And finally, Hodgson's England were humiliated by debutants Iceland, making his £3.5 million salary even more cringe-worthy.
So if there is any kind of correlation, it's a negative one. Being among the highest paid does not guarantee success. And being at the lower end of the pay scale is not necessarily an obstacle to having a successful tournament.
How do the coaches of the eight quarter-finalists rank?
- Antonio Conte, Italy - £3.15m
- Joachim Low, Germany - £2.15 m
- Didier Deschamps, France - £1.3 m
- Fernando Santos, Portugal - £962 K
- Marc Wilmots, Belgium - £515 K
- Lars Lagerback, Iceland - £346 K
- Chris Coleman, Wales - £200 K
- Adam Nawalka, Poland - £200 K
As you can see, ex-Juventus coach Antonio Conte leads the way. In fact, Conte makes a bit less than Nawalka, Coleman, Lagerback, Wilmots, Santos and Deschamps combined (£3.5 million vs. his £3.15 million salary). Deschamps, who will square off against Lagerbeck in a very interesting France vs. Iceland clash, makes a bit over three times what his opponent makes. Wilmots is about double of Coleman, and Santos is over four times of Nawalka.
Top five facts about UEFA Euro 2016's highest paid coaches list
- Not surprisingly, Portugal coach Fernando Santos's pay pales in comparison to his captain - Cristiano Ronaldo. The Real Madrid star makes a whopping £320,000 per week. That's over 1/3 of Santos's yearly salary, or 17 times what Santos makes weekly (£18, 500)
- Gareth Bale's weekly pay is more than what his national team coach, Coleman makes in one year
- Conte, who is now first in terms of pay, is the first manager to guide the Azzurri to the top of their group since Marcello Lippi did so at the 2006 World Cup
- Manchester City ace Kevin De Bruyne makes a bit less per week (£200,000) than what coach Marc Wilmots (£515,000) makes in a year, which is over 20 times annually what his boss earns
- Robert Lewandowski reportedly makes about £8.2 million each year (but this could be perhaps more). In any case, Poland's skipper's salary is 41 times that of Nawalka.
