Josep Guardiola Sala, professionally referred to as Pep Guardiola, is the manager of Manchester City FC, a club in the Premier League, the first tier of English club football. He has managed the club since 2016.

Before moving to Manchester City, he was the manager of Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga, the top flight of German club football, and of Barcelona in La Liga Santander, the top flight of Spanish football. For more information on which teams Pep Guardiola has coached, read on!

Pep Guardiola is widely regarded as the best manager in the world for his style of play, which incorporates elements of the Tiki Taka football philosophy of total possession football and elements of the high press. Pep Guardiola’s teams have a rule known as the “six-second rule” which requires them to win the ball back in six seconds because opposition teams would struggle to regain their shape after pressing for the ball.

This style of play depends a lot on defenders and goalkeepers who are good on the ball beyond their primary duties of stopping attacks down the centre and through the flanks. With this style, he has helped his teams win games with huge scorelines. He also has one of the highest win ratios in football and boasts a number of records to his name.

Pep Guardiola teams coached

At the time of writing, Pep Guardiola is only 14 years into his senior managerial career but has made a name for himself in football history with the number of records and trophies he has picked up in that time. His average managerial stint at a club is three years and so far, he has managed only three clubs in his illustrious career. Pep Guardiola has coached 3 teams so far – below is the full list of teams that Pep Guardiola has coached:

Barcelona

The first team Pep Guardiola coached was none other than FC Barcelona. Pep Guardiola became the manager of Barcelona on July 1, 2008 and managed the club until June 30, 2012. Those four years were Barcelona’s most successful period in their modern history and it was his announcement to the world as the “new kid on the block” in the arena of football management. He was given the job after one year at Barcelona B, the club’s second tier team that competes in the lower leagues of Spanish club football.

Barcelona was the club he spent most of his career at after joining them in 1984 as a 13-year-old. He was a student of Johan Cruijff’s Total Football philosophy which helped create the famous Barcelona “Dream Team”. 

After a five-year sojourn abroad, he retired from football and returned to Barcelona. A year later, he took the reins of the B-team and in his one year as manager, he won the lower division title. He was chosen to replace Frank Rijkaard in the senior team after the club decided against Michael Laudrup taking the job.

He managed a total of 247 matches for the club and left with a record of 179 wins, 47 draws and 21 losses. He won the La Liga title, the Copa del Rey title, the Supercopa De España title, the UEFA Champions League title, the UEFA Super Cup title and the FIFA Club World Cup title. He is the youngest manager to win the latter three titles listed and the youngest manager to win the treble. That is indeed some achievement!

Bayern Munich

Pep Guardiola assumed the role of manager at Bayern Munich on July 1, 2013 after being announced as the new manager of the club on January 16 2013. He took over from the legendary Jupp Heynckes and managed the club for three years, between July 2013 and June 30, 2016. He assumed the role after a one-year sabbatical from management following his exit from Barcelona, saying he needed to “recharge his batteries”.

While he had a good stint at Bayern Munich, it is the most underwhelming period of his career to date. The key reason is his performances in the UEFA Champions League, a competition which Bayern marauded their way to victory the season before his appointment as manager. He was singled out by German media and accused of employing outlandish tactics which prevented the club from being able to make headway in the Champions League, despite having arguably the strongest team in all of Europe at the time.

By the time he left the club in 2016, Guardiola managed Bayern Munich for 161 matches and left with a record of 124 wins, 16 draws and 21 losses. This is his best record to date as a manager, which is ironic because of how his time at the German club is perceived by many. He won the German Bundesliga title, the DFB-Pokal Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and a FIFA Club World Cup title.

Manchester City FC

Pep Guardiola signed a contract in February 2016 while at Bayern Munich to take over from Manuel Pellegrini as Manchester City‘s coach ahead of the 2016/17 season. He had big shoes to fill, as Pellegrini was leaving the club with the fifth highest winning percentage in English football history. On July 1, 2016, Man City became the third team Pep Guardiola has coached. His current contract is expected to end in June 2025, which will have been the longest stint of his managerial career.

His time at the Etihad is the club’s most successful period in their history. No matter how long he spends at the club, he will go down as their most successful manager after winning a whopping 15 trophies so far at the club.

He has shaped Manchester City into one of the scariest teams in the world and they are favourites to win every title they compete for. He has managed them for 420 matches so far and has won 311 of those matches, drawing 49 and losing 60. He has won every trophy possible at Man City, making him one of the greatest of all time.

Pep Guardiola Stats

Updated September 2023: the table below shows Pep Guardiola’s managerial career stats:

Pep Guardiola trophies won

Following the historic treble in 2023, Pep Guardiola has won 36 club trophies as a manager. He is the third most decorated manager of all time and the second most decorated active manager behind Mircea Lucescu of Dynamo Kyiv. 

However, he is considered the best manager that football has ever seen in many circles due to his success in such a short managerial career. Here is a breakdown of the trophies Guardiola has won in his career.