Pep Guardiola

Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala ( born 18 January 1971) is a Spanish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of club Manchester City.

Guardiola is the only manager to win the continental treble twice, the youngest to win the UEFA Champions League, and he also holds the records for the most consecutive league games won in La Liga, the Bundesliga and the Premier League.

He is considered to be one of the greatest managers of all time.

Guardiola was a defensive midfielder who usually played in a deep-lying playmaker's role.

Born in Santpedor, Barcelona, Catalonia, Guardiola joined La Masia at age 13 from Gimnàstic de Manresa and rose through the ranks of Barcelona's youth academy for six years, making his debut in 1990 against Cádiz.

As Phil Ball writes in Morbo, "In his first week at the club, Johan Cruyff turned up unannounced at the Mini Estadi, a venue just down the road from Camp Nou used by Barcelona B. Just before half-time he wandered into the dug-out and asked Charly Rexach, the youth team manager at the time, the name of the young lad playing on the right side of midfield. 'Guardiola – good lad,' came the reply. Cruyff ignored the comment and told Rexach to move him into the middle for the second half, to play as pivot. It was a difficult position to adapt to and one not used by many teams in Spain at the time. Guardiola adjusted immediately, as Cruyff had suspected he would, and when he moved to the first-team in 1990, he became the pivot of the Dream Team."

Guardiola became a first-team regular in the 1991–92 season, and at only 20 years old was a key component of a side that won La Liga and the European Cup.

The Italian magazine Guerin Sportivo heralded Guardiola as the finest player in the world under the age of 21.

He spent the majority of his career with Barcelona, forming a part of Johan Cruyff's Dream Team that won the club's first European Cup in 1992, and four successive Spanish league titles from 1991 to 1994.

Cruyff's "Dream Team" went on to retain La Liga title in the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons.

He was capped 47 times for the Spanish national team and appeared at the 1994 FIFA World Cup, as well as at UEFA Euro 2000.

He also played friendly matches for Catalonia.

After retiring as a player, Guardiola briefly managed Barcelona B, with whom he won a Tercera División title.

The side again reached the 1994 UEFA Champions League final, but were beaten 4–0 by Fabio Capello's AC Milan side in Athens.

Cruyff left in 1996, with Barcelona finishing fourth in the 1994–95 season and third in the 1995–96 season, but Guardiola retained his position at the centre of Barcelona's midfield.

In the 1996–97 season, Barcelona, this time led by Bobby Robson, won three cups: the Copa del Rey, the Supercopa de España, and the European Cup Winners' Cup.

He captained the team from 1997 until his departure from Barcelona in 2001.

Guardiola then had stints with Brescia and Roma in Italy, Al-Ahli in Qatar and Dorados in Mexico.

In 1997, Guardiola was named as Barcelona captain under new manager Louis van Gaal, but a calf muscle injury ruled Guardiola out of most of the 1997–98 season, in which Barcelona won a league and cup double.

At the end of the season, Barcelona rejected offers from Roma and Parma (of around 300 million pesetas) for Guardiola.

On 8 June 1998, Guardiola underwent surgery to try to resolve his lingering calf injury, which had caused him to miss the 1998 FIFA World Cup for Spain.

A largely disappointing 1999–2000 season again ended in surgery, with Guardiola missing the last three months of the season with a serious ankle injury.

After prolonged and complicated contract talks, he signed a new contract with Barcelona that extended his stay until 2001.

Guardiola returned to action the following season and Barcelona once again won La Liga.

On 11 April 2001, Barcelona's captain announced his intention to leave the club after 17 years of service.

He stated that it was a personal decision and, in part, a response to what he perceived as football heading in a new, more physical, direction.

On 24 June 2001, Guardiola played his last match with Barcelona in the final game of the season against Celta Vigo.

Guardiola played 479 games in 12 seasons for the first team, winning 16 trophies.

At the press conference after the Celta game, he said: "It's been a long journey. I'm happy, proud, happy with the way people treated me and I have made many friends. I cannot ask for more. I have had many years in the elite. I did not come to make history but to make my own history."

A number of future Barcelona midfielders, including Xavi, Andrés Iniesta and Cesc Fàbregas, have hailed Guardiola as their role model and hero.

After leaving Barcelona in 2001 at age 30, Guardiola joined Serie A side Brescia as Andrea Pirlo's replacement in the deep-lying playmaker role, where he played alongside Roberto Baggio under manager Carlo Mazzone.

Following his stint at Brescia, Guardiola transferred to Roma.

He took charge of the first team in 2008.

In his first season, he led Barcelona to the continental treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Champions League, becoming the youngest manager to win the latter competition.

He was named the FIFA World Coach of the Year in 2011 after leading the club to another La Liga and Champions League double in the 2010–11 season.

Guardiola ended his four-year Barcelona stint in 2012 with 14 honours, a club record.

After a sabbatical period, Guardiola joined Bayern Munich in 2013 and won the Bundesliga in each of the three seasons, including two domestic doubles.

He left the club for Manchester City in 2016 and guided them to the Premier League title in his second season in charge, breaking numerous domestic records, as the team became the first to attain 100 points in a single season.

He led City to a domestic treble in 2018–19, their first Champions League final in 2020–21, and their first Champions League title as part of another continental treble in 2022–23.

He is also the manager with the most FIFA Club World Cup triumphs, having won the trophy on four occasions, managing City, Barcelona and Bayern, and also City became the first English club to win five trophies in a calendar year.