11. Diego Simeone – Atletico Madrid ($5.7 million annual salary)
The former Argentinian defensive midfielder is up next on our list of highest paid football managers. Diego Simeone was one of the starting lineups of Argentina national team from 1988 to 2002.
In 2006, he ended his professional football career with Racing Club. However, he didn’t really leave. In the following season, he became the club’s manager.
The current club he manages, Atletico Madrid, was also the club he played for during his career as a player. He joined the club in 1994 for three seasons. And later on, he rejoined for two seasons in 2003.
Atletico Madrid is currently paying him $5.7 million per year. It seems to be a pretty good deal since Simeone successfully took the club to its best La Liga result as the champion in 2013-2014 season. He got very close to giving the club its first European Champions League trophy this year. But they ended up as the runner up after losing from their all-time nemesis, Real Madrid.
