Life expectancy as a coach: Wenger and the rest of the world
Issue number 142 of the CIES Football Observatory Big-5 Weekly Post presents the median stay of coaches at the head of teams in the five major European leagues. Arsène Wenger stands out: he manages Arsenal since 233 months. This is almost six times more than the second coach with the highest longevity in the English Premier League: Eddie Howe (Bournemouth).
The second coach with the longest stay at the head of his current club is Christophe Galtier at St-Etienne: 75 months. At the top of the tables in the other leagues are Giampiero Ventura (Torino, 57 months), Diego Simeone (Atlético Madrid, 51 months) and Markus Weinzierl (Augsburg, 45 months).
The median values per league vary between 16 months in the French Ligue 1 and only 9 months in the Italian Serie A. In the latter country, it is not unusual that clubs change many coaches during the same season. This reflects the lack of strategic vision of club officials more than any form of incompetence of coaches.
