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The IFFHS World's Best Club Coach is an association football award given annually, since 1996, to the most outstanding club coach as voted by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS). The votes, in 1996, were cast by IFFHS's editorial staff as well as experts from 89 countries spanning six different continents. Since then, the votes are now awarded by 81 experts and selected editorial offices from all of the continents.
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Public reception
The award is officially recognised by FIFA despite the IFFHS not being affiliated with them. However, as the award is usually awarded based on statistics rather than individual merits, it is not held in high regard by some football fans. Four times winner, José Mourinho once jokingly stated that the IFFHS were slow in handing over the award claiming he had not received his award from 2010 in 2012.
List of winners
The award is awarded every January. The winning coach and the runner up in the rankings are awarded a gold and silver trophy respectively at the World Football Gala. Below is a list of the previous winners and runners-up since the first award in 1996.
World Coach of the Decade
In 2011, the IFFHS awarded an additional award to coaches by combining the points awarded in the annual World's Best Club Coach awards, to the coach who had gained the most points collectively over the previous ten years to determine the best coach of the previous decade. This World Coach of the Decade award was awarded to Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger, despite the fact he had never won the annual World's Best Club Coach award.