Josep "Pep" Guardiola Sala (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈpɛb ɡwəɾðiˈɔlə];[3][4][5] born 18
January 1971) is a Catalan professional football manager and
former player from Spain who is the manager of Premier League club Manchester
City.[6] Guardiola is the only manager to win the continental treble twice and he holds
the record for the most consecutive league games won in La Liga, Bundesliga, and
the Premier League.[a] He is considered to be one of the greatest managers of all
time.[8][9][10]
Guardiola was a defensive midfielder who usually played in a deep-lying playmaker's
role. 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. 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. 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 and won
the Tercera División title before taking charge of the first team in 2008. In his first
season, Guardiola 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 has won six Premier League titles: his first title
in his second season in charge broke numerous domestic records as the team
became the first to attain 100 points in a single season. He also 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 his second continental treble in 2022–23.
Club career
1988–2001: Barcelona
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.[11] 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.[12]
21-year-old Guardiola (right), pictured with FC
Barcelona teammates Guillermo Amor, Albert Ferrer, and club vice-president Josep
Mussons, in 1992
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.[13] The
Italian magazine Guerin Sportivo heralded Guardiola as the finest player in the world
under the age of 21.[14] Cruyff's "Dream Team" went on to retain La Liga title in
the 1992–93 and 1993–94 seasons. 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
