After a successful playing career, Pep Guardiola has won a string of trophies as coach of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City.

Josep 'Pep' Guardiola is a Spanish football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of Manchester City and was previously in charge of Bayern Munich and Barcelona.

As a player, he turned out for Barcelona, AS Roma, Brescia, Al-Ahly and Dorados, and the Spain and Catalonia national teams.

He starred as a midfielder, but his greatest achievement in football was as a manager in 2008/09, when he inherited a struggling Barcelona team from Frank Rijkaard and turned them into treble winners with a young Lionel Messi the driving force.

As a manager, his trophy cabinet is groaning with silverware. He won La Ligue three times and the Champions League, Club World Cup and Copa del Rey twice with Barcelona.

At Bayern Munich he won the Bundesliga three times and the DFB-Pokal twice.

But it's at Manchester City where he has really hit a rich seam of trophies by winning the Premier League six times in seven years. He has also picked up the League Cup four times, two FA Cups and the 2023 Champions League.

 

Pep Guardiola and Barcelona

Guardiola's association with FC Barcelona began in 1984 aged 13, when he joined the club's youth academy. Six years later, he made his first team debut for the club against Cadiz.

Johan Cruyff saw potential in a young Guardiola and was the brains behind his move from the right of midfield into an anchoring role. In the 1991/92 season, Guardiola was a crucial cog in the Barcelona team that won the European Cup and La Liga titles.

Cruyff's 'Dream Team' went on to retain La Liga twice. Guardiola remained after Cruyff's departure in 1996 and became club captain under Louis van Gaal in 1997 after a season under Sir Bobby Robson had produced victories in the Copa del Rey, the Supercopa de Espana and the European Cup Winners' Cup.

Injury problems hampered the latter stages of Guardiola's Barcelona career, but the club again won La Liga in 1997/98 and 1998/99 before his departure to Brescia in 2001.

Guardiola returned after his playing career wound down to coach Barcelona's B team in 2007. A year later, he was promoted to the senior team.

Guardiola oversaw Barcelona's UEFA Champions League victories in 2008/09 and 2010/11. He also led them to La Liga titles in each of those seasons, with the 2008/09 campaign resulting in treble success.

During his time as Barca head coach, Guardiola struck up a fierce rivalry with Real Madrid counterpart Jose Mourinho, who had served as an assistant coach at Barcelona while Guardiola was playing for the club.

The 2011/12 season was Guardiola's least successful in charge of Barcelona, as they were beaten to the La Liga title by Mourinho's Real Madrid and lost in the Champions League semi-finals to Roberto Di Matteo's Chelsea. Despite Barcelona's Copa del Rey success and Lionel Messi's astonishing 73-goal haul, Guardiola was unable to match the silverware haul of previous seasons.

Guardiola left Barcelona in 2012 to take a break from coaching off the back of this disappointment and resurfaced a year later at Bayern Munich. He was replaced as Barcelona manager by Tito Vilanova who, as his assistant, had infamously been poked in the eye by Mourinho.

 

Returning to coaching at Bayern Munich

Guardiola arrived as Bayern Munich manager in 2013, with the club coming off the back of a treble-winning campaign.

Guardiola led Bayern to three successive Bundesliga titles, but he was unable to steer them to another Champions League crown.

Nevertheless, his style of play was a breath of fresh air at Bayern and he left in 2016 with the team once again the clear dominant force in German soccer after a period during which they had been threatened by Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund.

 

Premier League success with Man City

Guardiola replaced Manuel Pellegrini in 2016 as Manchester City boss. His first season was a difficult one as City finished third in the Premier League, behind Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur.

The decision to sign Claudio Bravo as goalkeeper did not pay off and Antonio Conte was the head coach who had the best of 2016/17, having introduced a winning formation at Chelsea with three defenders and Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses as wing backs.

However, Guardiola's City usurped Conte and Chelsea the following season. They steamrolled to the title, picking up a record 100 points. In 2018/19, City made it two league titles in a row under Guardiola, fending off a stiff challenge from Klopp's Liverpool, going on to complete a domestic treble.

Their domination of English football briefly ended in 2019/20 when Liverpool stole their Premier League crown.

Guardiola struggled to deliver the UEFA Champions League title for Manchester City. In 2017/18, despite winning the Premier League at a canter and the League Cup, they were beaten by Liverpool in the quarter-finals. 

In the following season, a semi-final defeat to Tottenham extended their wait for European success. Guardiola's side reached the final in 2021 but finished runners-up to Chelsea after Thomas Tuchel's side claimed a 1-0 win.

The 2021/22 season saw the Premier League remain in Manchester, with City pipping Liverpool to the title in the final day. The Citizens fell 2-0 down to Aston Villa early on, but a remarkable flurry of goals within five minutes from Rodri and a brace from Ilkay Gundogan handed City a fifth Premier League title in four years.

In November 2022, he signed a two-year contract extension which will keep him at Manchester City until 2025.

Guardiola steered Manchester City to their third consecutive title, and their fifth in six campaigns, in the 2022/23 season.

City had trailed leaders Arsenal by eight points in April 2023 but surged past their closest rivals on a run of 12 straight wins.

City completed the domestic double for a second time under Guardiola as they overpowered rivals Manchester United 2-1 in the FA Cup final at Wembley

Ilkay Gundogan scored both goals, including a stunning volley after just 12 seconds - the fastest goal in FA Cup final history - as City proved far too strong for their neighbours.

Guardiola guided Manchester City to his sixth Premier League title in seven season during the 2023/24 campaign. The club became the first team to win four consecutive titles.

 

 

Champions League with Manchester City

Manchester City completed the treble on a glorious night in Istanbul on June 10, 2023 as they beat Inter Milan 1-0 in a hard-fought final with a 68th-minute Rodri strike.

It was Guardiola's 12th major trophy with Manchester City and only the second English team, after Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in 1999, to have won the treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in the same season.

"You have to win in Europe to be considered a great team and we did it," said Guardiola in his post-match press conference at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium.

"I don't want to disappear after one Champions League. We have to work hard next season and be there.

"There are teams who win the Champions League and disappear. We have to avoid that.

"Knowing me it is not going to happen but it is a big relief to have this trophy."

Guardiola could also celebrate Champions League success again 12 years after the second of his two wins as Barcelona boss.

City failed to win back-to-back Champions League trophies the following season, after a heartbreaking penalty shoot-out loss to Real Madrid.

The holders were beaten 4-3 on spot-kicks by the Spanish giants after their quarter-final tie ended 4-4 on aggregate – 1-1 on the night – despite a dominant display from Guardiola’s side in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium.

 

Personal life

Guardiola has shown his support for the Catalan independence movement.

In 2018, he was charged by the Football Association for wearing a yellow ribbon in support of the cause during an FA Cup defeat to Wigan Athletic. Guardiola was fined £20,000 and warned regarding his future conduct for displaying the political message.

In 2014, during his spell as Bayern Munich manager, Guardiola married Cristina Serra. The pair had reportedly met at an exclusive clothes store in Barcelona.

In April 2020, Guardiola's mother died at the age of 82 after contracting Covid-19. He donated €1million to Spain's fight against the virus.

Guardiola has had high-profile fallouts with players who starred in his successful teams, including Samuel Eto'o, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Yaya Toure.

Pep Guardiola's net worth

As per Goal, Guardiola's net worth is in the region of £32-40million. He reportedly takes home €22million annually from his role as Manchester City manager, an increase of €5million on what he previously earned.

Guardiola is believed to have a net worth similar to that of his great rival and current Roma manager Jose Mourinho.