5 Managers who have won the Champions League with two different clubs

UEFA Champions League Trophy - the stuff of dreams for every footballer
UEFA Champions League Trophy - the stuff of dreams for every footballer

Last season, Zinedine Zidane and his Real Madrid side pulled off a miracle as they not only won the UEFA Champions League for a record 13th time but also became the first team to win the competition for three consecutive years.

Winning the Champions League alone can be considered as one of the toughest things to achieve for any manager or a player. While the likes of Samuel Eto'o, Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso and many others have won the UCL with two different clubs, the number of managers achieving that feat is pretty low.

Although many managers have won the Champions League more than once for the same club, there are only 5 of them who have won it with two different clubs.

Here are 5 managers who have won the Champions League with two different clubs.


#5 Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid and A.C. Milan)

Real Madrid v Atletico de Madrid - UEFA Champions League Final
Real Madrid v Atletico de Madrid - UEFA Champions League Final

Carlo Ancelotti is regarded as one of the best and most successful managers of all time as he is one of the only three managers to have won the UEFA Champions League three times (twice with A.C. Milan and once with Real Madrid). He is also one of the seven men to win the Champions League or the European League as a player and a manager.

The current Napoli boss won his first ever Champions League as a manager with A.C. Milan in the 2002-03 season against Juventus on penalties. He won it the second time again with Milan in the 2006-07 season against Liverpool, beating the Merseysiders 2 - 1 in the final.

On 24th May 2014, he won the Champions League with the Los Blancos against their rivals Atletico Madrid and became one of the few managers to win the trophy with two different clubs.

#4 Ernst Happel (Feyenoord and Hamburg)

Ernst Happel clinched European glory with Feyenoord and Hamburg
Ernst Happel clinched European glory with Feyenoord and Hamburg

Ernst Happel started his professional playing career at Rapid Wien at the age of 17. He was also chosen in Rapid's team of the century in 1999.

After retiring as a player, Happel went on to become one of the greatest coaches of all-time. He won the league title in four different countries. He also guided two different clubs to victory in the European Champions Cup (now the UEFA Champions League).

Happel won his first ever European Championship with Feyenoord in the 1969-70 season beating Celtic 2-1. He won the European Cup again in 1983, 13 years after the triumph with Feyenoord, this time Hamburger SV, defeating Juventus 1-0 in the final in the 1982-83 season.

Happel died of lung cancer in 1992 at age 66. In the wake of his death, the biggest football stadium in Austria, the Praterstadion in Vienna, was renamed Ernst-Happel-Stadion.

#3 Jupp Heynckes (Real Madrid and Bayern Munich)

Borussia Dortmund v FC Bayern Muenchen - UEFA Champions League Final
Borussia Dortmund v FC Bayern Muenchen - UEFA Champions League Final

Jupp Heynckes who was appointed as the caretaker manager by Bayern Munich until the end of the 2017-18 season is also one the 5 managers to win the prestigious European trophy with two different clubs. He achieved the feat with Real Madrid and then with Bayern Munich.

In June 1997, Heynckes was hired by the Spanish champions Real Madrid. There, he celebrated one of his greatest triumphs, beating Juventus 1-0 in the 1997-98 UEFA Champions League Final to bring the European Cup to Madrid for the first time since 1966.

His second European glory came with Bayern Munich when they defeated their rivals Borussia Dortmund 2-1 with an Arjen Robben late goal in the 2012-13 edition of UEFA Champions League final.

Heynckes retired at the end of 2017-18 season. In his career, the German tactician managed 1,265 matches in three leagues.

#2 Ottmar Hitzfeld (Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich)

Ottmar Hitzfeld guided German giants Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich to the UCL title
Ottmar Hitzfeld guided German giants Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich to the UCL title

Ottmar Hitzfeld, a trained mathematician and sports teacher, has been elected IFFHS Best Club Coach of the Year twice in his career. He is also one of the 5 managers to win the Champions League with two different clubs.

In the1996-97 edition of the UEFA Champions League, Borussia Dortmund prevailed 3–1 in Munich’s Olympiastadion against Juventus which featured Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, and Christian Vieri amongst others.

In the 2000–01 season, he led Bayern not only to the league championship hat-trick, but once again into the Champions League final, defeating Manchester United and defending champions Real Madrid en route to the final. This time, the side from Munich prevailed, though it took a penalty shoot-out against Valencia.

He announced his retirement from coaching after the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

#1 Jose Mourinho (Porto and Inter Milan)

Jose Mourinho is one of the best managers of the modern era
Jose Mourinho is one of the best managers of the modern era

There are many reasons why Jose Mourinho is called 'The Special One' and having a strong European history is just of them.

A Porto side managed by Jose Mourinho won the 2003-04 Champions League by beating Porto 3-0 in the final. This was Porto's first European glory since winning the 1986-87 edition of the European Cup.

Mourinho joined the list of managers winning the UCL with two different clubs in 2010 when his Inter Milan side won 2009-10 edition of UEFA Champions League, beating Bayern Munich in the final by a scoreline of 2-0. On the same day, he also joined the elite list of managers winning the treble as his Inter side had also clinched the Serie A and Coppa Italia titles before the lifting the UCL trophy.

Under Jose Mourinho, Inter also became the first Italian club to achieve the treble and the sixth European club to do so.

Quick Links

Edited by Atharva Gosavi