15 Best World Football Coaches to Never Win a Championship

Every manager has that one trophy that has haunted them with elusive vengeance.

For some it is the FIFA World Cup, and for others it may be the UEFA Champions League or a certain Domestic league that always seems to slip through their grasp.

Even the best managers who have had loads of success can still fail at winning a certain championship no matter the circumstances.

With that in minds here are some of football managements greatest minds who have never won the one they always desired.

George Ramsey (Champions League)

Aston Villa's original manager from 1884-1926, George Ramsey, was one of the first greats in the managerial hot seat. 

He won six English First Division titles and finished second another six times. And Ramsey also led the club to six English FA Cup titles.

However, during his time, there was yet to be a formalized European continental club championship like there is today with the UEFA Champions League, which began in the 1950's as the European Cup.

To put his level of greatness into perspective, from the time he led Villa to their last league title in 1909-10, it took 70 years until the 1980-81 season for the Villains to reclaim the league.

And they are yet to do so again since.

Graham Taylor (English First Division)

As a player Graham Taylor's career was plagued by injury.

However, his managerial career was plagued with the almost curse of the runner-up position.

Taylor was a major success at Watford Football Club in the 1980's, bringing them all the way from the old fourth division to the first division.

He only won the fourth division on his way up, and the closest he came to winning the first division league was second place in 1982-83.

Taylor also helped to get Aston Villa back to the top tier of English football. But again, he could only finish in second place in the second division and was once again a runner-up to the league title in 1989-90.

For a great managerial career he never won the English top flight in 31 years of trying.

Walter Smith (UEFA Champions League)

Glasgow Rangers legendary manager Walter Smith won 10 Scottish league titles, six Scottish League Cups and five Scottish Cups over two separate tenure's at the now financially threatened club.

However, despite his resounding domestic success, Smith never managed to make a mark on the club's European history during his time at the helm.

His failure to do so still leaves Ranger's greatest rivals, Celtic Football Club, as the only Scottish club to ever win a European title.

Rinus Michels (FIFA World Cup)

Neatherlands footballing legend, Rinus Michels, is the father of, "Total Football." The style of play which the likes of Johan Cruyff perfected during the 1970's and into the modern era.

Michels won almost every major honor available during his managerial career—save for two. The first being the German Bundesliga, which evaded him during stints at FC Colonge and later at Bayer Leverkusen.

However, the last is the FIFA World Cup.

Michels came close in 1974 but his Dutch side, arguably the best side in the nation's history, was defeated by their geographical neighbors and host nation, West Germany.

The tactician did win a UEFA European Championship with the Netherlands in 1988, but it is a travesty that he never managed to lift football's crown jewel.

Alf Ramsey (UEFA European Championship)

The only England manager ever to win a World Cup, Alf Ramsey will forever be enshrined as a national team icon after his 1966 success.

However, he could never manage to win the other major national prize of his time, the UEFA European Championship. His best result was a third place finish in 1968. 

The 1964 and 1972 Euros were decided without England having even made the cut under Ramsey.

His only other major success came with a First Division title for Ipswich Town in the 1961-62 campaign and is the Tractor Boys only top tier league title in their club history.

Leo Beenhakker (UEFA Champions League)

Leo Beenhakker conquered La Liga with Real Madrid in the late 1980's with three straight league titles, and one each of the Spanish Super Cup and a Copa Del Rey.

However, he never could get his club to succeed and win a European Cup.

As a manager Beenhakker has had tremendous successes, such as taking tiny nation Trinidad & Tobago to the 2006 World Cup, but many of his successes have been without any silverware to raise his stock.

In nearly 31 years of managerial experience and great runs with European Pedigree clubs such as Madrid, Ajax and Feyenoord, it is a shame he never ever got to a Champions League final.

Mircea Lucescu (UEFA Champions League)

Romanian born manager and former footballer Mircea Lucescu has achieved great success as a manager in Central, Southern and Eastern Europe.

Since 1998-99 however, his quest has truly been for a UEFA Champions League crown with a curse of the quarterfinal blues he is yet to kick.

He came close in that first season taking Inter Milan to the quarterfinals, but he was knocked out by the eventual dramatic winner Manchester United.

Again Lucescu reached the quarterfinal round in 2000-01, this time in charge of Turkish club Galatasaray. However, he once again was stopped short of progression, this time by Real Madrid.

Following a move to another Turkish giant, Besiktas, he reached the quarter final of the UEFA Cup in 2002-03 before making the last managerial move of his career thus far to Ukrainian side Shaktar Donetsk.

Since 2004 he has been turning the Ukrainians into a super power of Eastern Europe.

He led the side to their first European silverware in 2008-09, when he finally got his hands on the UEFA Cup.

In 2010-11 he was again back in the Champions League and took his club once again to the quarterfinals only to be knocked out for the third time of his career, this time in a painful fashion with a 6-1 pounding from Barcelona on aggregate.

There is still time for him to try and find his unicorn, but that time is running out without a larger European club with major financial backing.

Robert Herbin (European Cup)

Robert Herbin was phenomenal during his first tenure with French club AS Saint-Etienne. From 1972-83 he led the club to four Ligue 1 titles and three French Cups.

However, he missed his one chance at putting France and his favored club in the record books when his side lost in the 1976 European Cup Final to German powerhouse Bayern Munich.

Had Herbin won, he would have been the first to lead a French side to the European Cup. That feat was later achieved by Olympique Marseille in 1993.

Herbin never won another trophy after leaving Etienne and never got another crack at the biggest European club crown.

Bruce Arena (FIFA World Cup)

Los Angeles Galaxy manager Bruce Arena is one of the most decorated managers in the history of United States soccer.

He has three MLS titles to his name between DC United and the Galaxy as well as a CONCACAF Champions League with United.

However, his time as the United States National Team coach saw him thirst for World Cup glory but fall disappointingly short in eight years of trying.

Despite his two CONCACAF Gold Cup triumphs in 2002 and 2005, Arena looks to never have a chance at the ultimate prize.

Otto Gloria (European Cup)

Otto Gloria was one of Benfica's finest managers in their history. However, he failed to do one thing for the club.

That was to bring them back to European glory in either period with the club where he won six Portuguese cups and three league titles.

Despite talent that was thought to be able to bringing the European Cup back to the club during his time, it never was meant to be.

Gloria also missed out on the chance to bring home a World Cup in 1966 when his Portuguese national team finished 3rd.

Willie Maley (European Cup)

It takes a special breed of manager to last 43 years at a football club. However, Celtic Football Club manager Willie Maley was just that sort of man.

He was and is the longest tenured manager in the history of the Hoops and won 16 titles and 14 Scottish Cups during his long period of service.

However, unfortunately for him, he was never able to lead his side out against the best of Europe, just as many other managers of his era.

It is a shame he was never able to test his tactics or his squad in the European Cup.

Kenny Dalglish (UEFA Champions League)

Liverpool's Kenny Dalglish did finally end his wait to win an English League Cup with the Reds last-gasp Carling Cup victory earlier in 2012.

However, while his latest trip to the hot seat has been rather rocky, his previous success at Liverpool cannot be forgotten.

Three league titles and two FA Cups with the Reds make up perhaps his most prized possessions, but he is yet to truly have a go at Europe.

Liverpool were banned from Europe during his initial period as manager, and he did not have the chance to lead them towards either a UEFA Europa League title or the UEFA Champions League crown.

Next season he will get his first full taste of Europe from the start if he survives the run-in on Merseyside and will hope to finally end his long wait for a piece of European glory with his old club.

David Moyes (FA Cup, Any Trophy)

Everton's thrifty Scottish manager, David Moyes has always been one to get the best out of the least.

In ten years with Everton he has sent them to Europe numerous times and pressed hard to keep the club in the top six of the table.

His hard fights in the FA Cup and League cup have also not fallen on blind eyes.

However, Moyes has yet to put a piece of silverware in Everton's trophy cabinet.

The Toffees were among the best teams in England and Europe in the 1980's but have never been brought back to that former height of success.

Moyes will be desperate to end his trophy drought after coming so close in 2009 as the FA Cup runners-up, and with only Liverpool standing in their way of a possible shot at it once more in just a few weeks time.

Tomislav Ivić (UEFA Champions League)

Legendary Croatian born manager Tomislav Ivić has a list of league titles and cup victories from seven countries.

However, the one piece of silverware he never managed to lift in his time was the European Cup.

The closet he came was the 1987 UEFA Super Cup which he won with FC Porto.

Sir Bobby Robson (English Premier League)

Many may believe the World Cup is the trophy that may have escaped Sir Bobby Robson more than any, but to me his one great accomplishment never fulfilled was winning the English Top flight.

Having built Ipswich into a European power by 1981 when he lifted the UEFA Cup he was thought to be headed for the top of the English league sooner or later.

However, he then left for the England national team job for eight years and then more time in Europe before returning to his home nation as the manager of Newcastle United.

But, again Robson was never able to get a side to the top of the English domestic mountain.

Conclusion

Those are my top 15, but there are sure to be plenty more.

Who are your beat managers to never win a championship that their heart and pedigree deserved or desired?

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