Claude Puel (born 2 September 1961 in Castres) is a French football manager and former player. He spent 17 years playing for AS Monaco and is the current head coach of OGC Nice in the Ligue 1.

Before being appointed as the manager of Monaco, he was the physical trainer and manager of the Monaco's reserve team. He was appointed as the manager in January 1999. He won the French Championship in 2000, with players, such as Ludovic Giuly and Marcelo Gallardo. In July 2001, his contract was not renewed and he left Monaco after 24 years at the club as a player and a coach. In July 2002, he was appointed manager of Lille, where he became one of the longest serving coaches in the French League (serving for six consecutive seasons).^{[citation needed]}

Puel courted controversy on 20 February 2007 in a UEFA Champions League match against Manchester United in Lille.^{[citation needed]} After Ryan Giggs scored a quickly taken free-kick late in the game, Puel was thought to be encouraging his players to walk off the pitch in protest,^{[citation needed]} although the game eventually continued after a short delay. Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson described the incident in an interview with ITV after the match as 'disgraceful' and 'intimidation of the referee'". He's a young guy so he will learn to hold it down soon. Hopefully he doesn't learn the hard way."^{[citation needed]}