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The German Bundesliga is the most well-attended top football league in the world. Unsurprisingly, the competition has been graced by many fine players and tacticians over the years.
While experienced campaigners like Carlo Ancelotti, Louis van Gaal and Giovanni Trapattoni have tasted success in the Bundesliga, the competition has also seen younger managers rise to the fore.
The likes of Julian Nagelsman and Thomas Tuchel, two of the shrewdest young managers in the game, first made their names in the Bundesliga. Tuchel has since moved on to take the reins at Premier League giants Chelsea.
More than twenty managers have triumphed in the Bundesliga, with 12 of them winning the competition on multiple occasions. On that note, let us have a look at the five most successful managers to have graced the Bundesliga.
#5 Pep Guardiola - 3 Bundesliga titles
One of three managers to have won exactly three Bundesliga titles, Pep Guardiola pips two behemoths - Otto Rehhagel and Felix Magath - owing to his staggering record in the competition.
While Rehhagel managed a record 836 Bundesliga games and Magath oversaw almost 500, Guardiola created a bigger impact despite managing only 102 games in the league.
The Spanish tactician, who won a Bundesliga three-peat with Bayern Munich, is the only manager (who have managed at least 50 games) in the competition's history to tally over two points (2.52) per game.
Despite his failure to conquer the UEFA Champions League with the Bavarian giants, Guardiola's men eked out several Bundesliga records. He had modestly said on his arrival in the Bundesliga:
"My time at Barcelona was wonderful but I needed a new challenge. Bayern gave me that opportunity."
The former Barcelona manager proved more than up for the new challenge, making an immediate impact and leaving with a lasting legacy three years later.
In his first season at Bayern Munich, Guardiola's men romped to the earliest Bundesliga triumph in the competition's history, sealing the title with seven Matchdays left.
Combining breathtaking offence with water-tight defence, Bayern Munich scored a staggering 254 goals and kept an impressive 59 clean sheets in 102 games while registering an almost unfathomable win% of 80.
Quite aptly, Owen Hargreaves, who played for Bayern Munich but not under Guardiola, hailed the Spaniard's impact in the Bundesliga, saying in this regard:
"And I think Pep inspired a generation of young coaches in the Bundesliga. Everybody wants to get the ball down and play, so you'll see everyone trying to have a go. There are a lot of young players playing, which I think is nice for the fans, and everyone playing in the right way."
#4 Hennes Weisweller - 4 titles
Hennes Weisweller is a four-time Bundesliga winner. He won three titles in the competition with Borussia Monchengladbach and one with FC Koln.
One of the most successful coaches in the Bundesliga's early history, Weisweller was known for his progressive style of play. His Monchengladbach team stood tall against the Catenaccio of Inter Milan in the European Club's Cup (now called the Champions League).
Hennes Weisweller's contribution to German football and the Bundesliga, in particular, can be gauged by the fact that any aspiring manager in the competition has to go through a ten-month course at the prestigious Hennes-Weisweiler-Akademie to earn their Pro License.
The programme is so rigorous that only 24 of 80 applicants are admitted. The likes of Jupp Heynckes, Jürgen Klopp, Joachim Löw, Hansi Flick - all successful coaches in the Bundesliga - have all graduated from the Hennes-Weisweiler-Akademie.
#3 Jupp Heynckes - 4 Bundesliga titles
Jupp Heynckes has a special place in Bayern Munich and Bundesliga history.
One of only six men to win the Bundesliga as both player and coach, Heynckes delivered the first continental treble by a German club in 2012-13. That season, the rampaging Bavarian giants registered a record Bundesliga points tally.
Heynckes returned to management in 2017 and promptly won his fourth Bundesliga title as a coach.
The 75-year-old, who managed five different teams in the German top flight, is the oldest manager to win the competition.
#2 Ottmar Hitzfeld - 7 Bundesliga titles
Ottmar Hitzfeld is one of the most storied managers to have graced the Bundesliga.
The seven-time Bundesliga winner is one of the few men to have won the competition with multiple clubs.
Hitzfeld has won almost every major title in German club football, with his impressive resume boasting three DFB Pokal wins and one Champions League triumph among other domestic and continental honours.
#1 Udo Lattek - 8 Bundesliga titles
With eight titles, the late Udo Lattek is the most successful manager in Bundesliga history.
Considered one of the finest managers of his time, Lattek won a record six Bundesliga titles with Bayern Munich.
Lattek, who also managed Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Schalke, "left an impression on a generation of Bundesliga players", as described by the league's then-president Dr. Reinhard Rauball on the former's demise.
