Jean-Michel Cavalli (born 13 July 1957) is a French and Corsican football manager and former player.

Cavalli started his playing career at the now-defunct Gazélec Ajaccio in 1971,^[2] also turning out for Corsican sides Bastia SCB (1977–78) and Solenzara (1978–79) before a second spell at Gazélec. In that second spell, Cavalli would spend five years as club captain.

In his final few years as a player, the club hierarchy at Gazélec encouraged Cavalli to shadow then head coach Guy Calléja. In 1990, when Calléja was unable to continue in the role, Cavalli was promoted to manager - overseeing both the professionalisation of the football club ^[3] and ensuring that Gazélec were able to stay in Division 2 in a period of great transition.

His first taste of international management would take place when he took charge of Algeria in 2005.^[4][5] Cavalli coached the Corsica national team, not affiliated with FIFA or UEFA, in a 2009 friendly against Congo.

Jean-Michel Cavalli comes from a family which had a history of professional football players. His uncle, Jean Cavalli [fr], won the 1935 Coupe de France with Olympique de Marseille, primarily as a rotational player.^[6] His son is the former professional football player Johan Cavalli, who is the current Sporting Director at AC Ajaccio. When Jean-Michel took the reins of the Corsican national team in 2009, Johan was one of the players in the starting XI.