Football Manager 2020 - best coaches for 5 star training

Building an exciting team on the pitch is just one of the steps you need to take on your road to glory in Football Manager 2020.

If you focus solely on your squad and neglect to improve your behind the scenes infrastructure, you risk seeing a lot of potential go unfulfilled.

To squeeze the absolute most out of your players in terms of performance and development, you need to assemble the best backroom staff possible in Football Manager 2020. This is especially important if you want to maximise the natural talents of those world class wonderkids.

While acquiring top scouts, head of development and physios is also important, the coaches you bring in can be the difference between winning the lot or falling by the wayside.

To help you put together the best support staff possible, we’ve compiled a list of the best coaches to help you push towards those 5-star ratings every Football Manager player craves. Below you’ll find 10 of the best coaches for each category, so there’s plenty to choose from!

What is a 5-star coaching rating?

Even if you are casual FM20 gamer, you’ll probably have heard the term “5-star coaching” before. Simply put, this is the star rating you see for each area of training on the coaching screen. The areas of coaching are split into a number of different categories, and ideally you’ll want to appoint a specialist for each one.

Bear in mind that the final star rating does take things like training facilities and workload into account as well. You can hire the best coach in the world, but if you stick him on a quagmire of a training pitch and use jumpers for goalposts you’ll never get the best out of him.

Coaching Categories:

• Fitness (Strength)
• Fitness (Quickness)
• Defending (Tactical)
• Defending (Technical)
• Attacking (Tactical)
• Attacking (Technical)
• Possession (Tactical)
• Possession (Technical)
• Goalkeeping (Shot Stopping)
• Goalkeeping (Handling & Distribution)

Remember – to get as close as possible to full stars from each of your handpicked coaches, you need to assign them to just ONE training area/category at a time so their resources and time aren’t overstretched. That means you’ll need two fitness coaches (strength training, aerobic training), and two goalkeeping coaches (shot stopping, handling and distribution).

It might be the case that your board won’t let you hire that many coaches, so compromise is needed in these cases. You’ll have to decide where you want to focus most of your training and take a star-rating hit in other areas.

Best coaches in Football Manager 2020

What to look for in a good coach

Beyond the specific coaching attributes (which we go into below) there are a few mental attributes that affect the star rating of a coach, no matter what category he is assigned to. These key attributes are Determination, Level of Discipline and Motivating.

Combine high ratings in each of those along with the category dependant coaching attributes and you’re well on your way to a 5 star coaching team in FM20.

Goalkeeping Coaches

Goalkeeping (Shot Stopping) attributes: GK Shot Stopping

The Shot Stopping category trains your goalkeepers in Reflexes, One on Ones, Composure, Concentration, Positioning, Rushing Out and Anticipation.

Goalkeeping (Handling) attributes: GK Handling, GK Distribution

The Handling category also encompasses goalkeeper distribution, training your players in Aerial Reach, Handling, Command of Area, Communication, Kicking, Throwing, Vision, First Touch, Technique, Passing and Decisions.

• Adalberto Grigioni (Lazio)
• Jaro Pedro (Unemployed)
• Hugo Oliveira (Unemployed)
• Alessandro Nista (Napoli)
• Gilles Rousset (Beijing Guoan)
• Gianluca Spinelli (Paris SG)
• Vyacheslav Chanov (No club)
• Roberto Barbosa (Cruzeiro)
• Jens Lehmann (No club)
• Toni (Shakhtar)

Defending Coaches

Defending (Tactical) attributes: Defending, Tactical

The Tactical half of defensive coaching focuses on Aggression, Concentration and Positioning.

Defending (Technical) attributes: Defending, Technical

The Technical side of defending trains your players in Marking and Tackling.

• Danny McGrain (Celtic)
• Daniele Bernazzani (Inter)
• Miguel D’Agostino (Tottenham Hotspur)
• Cristian Stellini (Inter)
• Ivan Cordoba (No club)
• Mario Cecchi (Lazio)
• Pepijn Linders (Liverpool)
• Wellington Vero (Remo)
• Minervino Pietra (Benfica)
• Toni Ruiz (Eibar)

Attacking Coaches

Attacking (Tactical) attributes: Attacking, Tactical

Attacking (Tactical) coaches train your players to improve their Composure, Flair and Off the Ball attributes.

Attacking (Technical) attributes: Attacking, Technical

Crossing, Finishing and Long Shots are the main areas of focus for Attacking (Technical) coaches.

• Loris Beoni (Juventus)
• Sergio Zanetti (Como)
• Rodolfo Borrell (Manchester City)
• Dirk Mack (Hoffenheim)
• Carlinhos Neves (Sao Paulo)
• Kieran McKenna (Manchester United)
• Albert Meyong (Vitoria de Setubal)
• Lucjan Brychczy (Legia Warszawa)
• Eder Aleixo (Altetico Mineiro)
• Pepijn Lijnders (Liverpool)

Possession Coaches

Possession (Tactical) attributes: Mental, Tactical

Tactical Possession coaches focus on a variety of Mental attributes, such as Anticipation, Decisions, Vision and Teamwork.

Possession (Technical) attributes: Mental, Technical

The Technical side of Possession coaches improves Dribbling, First Touch, Passing, Heading and Technique attributes.

• Loris Beoni (Juventus)
• Daniele Barnazzani (Inter)
• Michele Salzarulo (Inter)
• Luiz Carlos (Emirates)
• David Coles (Forest Green)
• Flavio Tenius (Botafogo)
• Lucjan Brychczy (Legia Warszawa)
• Gianni Vio (SPAL)
• Rodolfo Borrell (Manchester City)
• Salvatore Cerrone (Inter)

Fitness Coaches

Fitness (Strength) attributes: Fitness

Strength coaches train your players to improve their Jumping Reach, Natural Fitness, Stamina, Strength and Work Rate.

Fitness (Quickness) attributes: Fitness

Quickness coaches (formerly Aerobic) train your players’ Acceleration, Agility, Balance and Pace.

• Michael Lindeman (NEC)
• Lorenzo Buenaventura (Manchester City)
• Roberto Sassi (Juventus)
• Bruno Mendes (No club)
• Florian Wangler (Borussia Dormtund)
• Damian Roden (Seattle)
• Andreas Kornmayer (Liverpool)
• Paco Seirul lo (Barcelona)
• Tony Colbert (No club)
• Fabio Micarelli (AC Milan)

More on Football Manager 2020

• Best clubs to start with on Football Manager 2020
• Toughest challenges on Football Manager 2020
• Football Manager 2020 Wonderkids: Goalkeepers
• Football Manager 2020 Wonderkids: Defenders
• Football Manager 2020 Wonderkids: Midfielders
• Football Manager 2020 Wonderkids: Strikers
• Football Manager 2020 bargain players