Which Roma coaches have gained the most points in Serie A during their first season in charge?
Here’s the ranking since the league switched to 20 teams in 2004, only counting managers who spent the full season in question in charge.
1. Rudi Garcia: 85
For more than a fleeting moment, Garcia’s Roma looked unstoppable. A total newcomer to Italian football when he was appointed in 2013, his first 10 Serie A games produced 10 wins.
It was an extraordinary start to the season exactly when Roma needed a boost, although the momentum began to wear off.
Nevertheless, Garcia’s side produced another long winning run – this time over nine games – towards the tail end of the season.
Their final points tally of 85 was their best ever, at that point in their history. Alas, it was only enough for second place; Juventus finished on a record-breaking 102.
2. Eusebio Di Francesco: 77
Di Francesco’s efforts in the league during his first season in charge of Roma were somewhat overshadowed by their incredible run to the Champions League semi-finals.
However, Di Francesco initially coped well with the step up from Sassuolo, leading Roma to a third-placed finish in 2017-18 (which would turn out to be their last for eight years).
It wasn’t all convincing and shouldn’t be romanticised as such, but three separate streaks of four or more wins showed the potential of the project until Monchi dismantled it that summer.
3. Gian Piero Gasperini: 73
After finishing on 74 points in his final season in charge of Atalanta – five better off than Roma – Gasperini made the move to the capital in the summer of 2025.
At the first time of asking, he succeeded in ending Roma’s long wait for a top-four finish, securing their best points total since Di Francesco’s debut season.
Roma finished the 2025-26 season on a five-game winning streak, for the first time in a decade.
4. Paulo Fonseca: 70
Before Gasperini, the last coach to take the reins after a Claudio Ranieri caretaker spell was Fonseca in 2019.
Having made the move from Shakhtar Donetsk, Fonseca hoped to inspire a new style of play at Roma, which was seen in glimpses throughout his first season in Italy.
The season was delayed in the spring because of lockdown, but Roma enjoyed a decent final stretch, with seven wins from their last eight games to secure a fifth-placed finish.
5. Luciano Spalletti: 69
Spalletti’s work with Udinese earned him a shot at the Roma job in 2005 as the club recovered from a turbulent prior season.
The then-46-year-old grasped the opportunity and set Roma back on the right path, leading them to an 11-game winning run over the middle period of the season.
Also taking Roma to a Coppa Italia final, which they lost, Spalletti finished fifth by the end of his debut season. But then came the Calciopoli scandal and Roma were bumped up to second in the revised standings.
With consecutively improving points totals, Spalletti went on to finish second again in each of the next two seasons and won the Coppa Italia in both.
6. José Mourinho: 63
Mourinho’s appointment in 2021 was one of the most strongly celebrated footballing events in Rome in recent memory.
Three wins from his first league games in charge helped preserve the optimism, but then there were only three wins from the next nine.
A 12-game unbeaten run after Christmas kept Roma on track, but they ultimately confirmed a sixth-placed finish after their attention turned to European glory with the chance to win the Conference League.
Their success in doing so is what Mourinho’s first season – and whole reign – will be primarily remembered for.
7. Luis Enrique: 56
Luis Enrique’s chapter with Roma serves as a reminder that judgement often ought to be reserved.
It was the Spaniard’s decision to walk away after one season, not the club’s, but few would have said his seventh-placed finish in the 2011-12 season with Roma was a success.
In the years since, he has won the Champions League three times – once with Barcelona and twice in a row with PSG.
Leave a Reply