Which coaches will be managing which Ligue 1 teams for the first part of the 2025-2026 season, which begins on Friday, August 15? For the players, rosters will be final by September 1, the summer transfer window deadline. For coaches, however, there is no such calendar: Clubs are free to hire or fire a coach at any time. In 2015, Argentine Marcelo Bielsa chose to resign from his position at Olympique de Marseille (OM) just minutes after his team lost at home on the opening day of the French football championship.
Since the 1990s, and especially since 2000, turnover rates on Ligue 1 benches have climbed steadily, according to data compiled by Le Monde from the specialist website Transfermarkt, which tracks statistics as far back as the 1945-1946 season. What explains this trend?
The tipping point came in the 1990s. Since the 1990-1991 season, an average of 12 coaches have failed to finish the season, compared to 7.6 between 1945 and 1989. Entering the 21st century, the pace accelerated even more: Since 2010, the average has risen to 13.2.
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