Brazilian, Spanish and German managers hold the joint-record for most consecutive appearances of winning coaches, with three back-to-back triumphs each; a Brazilian manager won the final in 2000, 2005 and 2006, a Spanish manager did so in 2009, 2010 and 2011, while a German manager accomplished the feat in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Spanish managers have won also won the most total finals, with six (the aforementioned three, plus in 2013, 2015 and 2023).

Rafael Benítez of Spain became the first manager to reach the FIFA Club World Cup final with a foreign club when English side Liverpool side lost the 2005 final under his leadership;^[5] he led other foreign clubs to the final on two further occasions, winning in 2010 with Italian side Internazionale and losing in 2012 with English team Chelsea. Sir Alex Ferguson, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Zinedine Zidane, Santiago Solari, Jürgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel are the other managers to win the final with a foreign club, with Ancelotti (2014 and 2022), Zidane (2016 and 2017) and Guardiola (2013 and 2023) the only ones to accomplish this on multiple occasions, Ancelotti and Zidane while managing Real Madrid, and Guardiola while managing Bayern Munich and Manchester City.^[6][7][8]

Along with Ancelotti and Zidane, Guardiola is the only other manager to have led the same club to the final on more than one occasion, coming out victorious with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011. He also won the final in 2013 as coach of Bayern Munich and in 2023 as coach of Manchester City, becoming the first manager to win the trophy four times and also the first manager to win the trophy with three different clubs.^[9][10]

The inaugural final in 2000 remains the only one to see two managers from the same nation, with both hailing from Brazil.^[11]

Pep Guardiola is the only manager to have won four FIFA Club World Cups; he won twice with Barcelona, once with Bayern Munich and once with Manchester City.^[9][10] He is also the first manager to win the tournament with three different clubs. Guardiola also holds the record for the most appearances in the final, with the aforementioned four. Lamine N'Diaye of Senegal in 2010, Faouzi Benzarti of Tunisia in 2013 and Masatada Ishii of Japan in 2016 were the only non-European and non-South American managers to have appeared in the final. The aforementioned three managers, as well as Zoran Mamić in 2018, Ricardo Ferretti in 2020 and Ramón Díaz in 2022, are the only ones to have led a club outside Europe and South America into the decisive match.^[8]

Spanish managers have had the most success in the competition, amassing six titles in eight total final appearances. Brazilian managers have won four titles, German and Italian managers have each won three, French managers have won two, and a Scottish manager has won the title once. Argentine managers hold the dubious record of the most losses in the final with six, including defeats in three consecutive editions; a manager from Argentina has only won the competition on one occasion.^[7][9][12]

European managers remain the most successful of the competition, with a total of fifteen titles.^{[8][7][9][10][12]} Their South American counterparts are second with five titles, while Africa has had two managers lead a club into the final, and Asia has had one.^{[5][6][8][11]}

• List of FIFA Club World Cup finals

• FIFA's official site for the FIFA Club World Cup (in English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish)
• Toyota's official site for the FIFA Club World Cup (in English and Japanese)