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The UEFA Champions League, formerly called the European Cup, is one of the best club competitions in world football since its inception in 1992.
Whenever we hear the iconic Champions League anthem, we are reminded of the amazing crop of players who have graced the competition. While they do deserve credit for winning games for their clubs, the competition's format makes a manager's role equally important, if not more.
It is very difficult to win the Champions League as a player, but winning it as a coach is even tougher. On that note, here we take a look at six managers who've lifted the glistening Champions trophy on most occasions.
Note: Ottmar Hitzfeld and Vicente del Bosque have won the Champions League on two occasions, but here we have given preference to managers who have won the competition twice and have also won a treble in doing so. European Cup winners are not considered in this list.
Six managers with the most title wins in Champions League history:
T2. Alex Ferguson - Two | 1999, 2008 (Manchester United)
Sir Alex Ferguson is the most successful manager in British football history, and he also found success in the Champions League, winning the elite competition twice with Manchester United.
As the United manager from 1986 to 2013, he won a record 114 European Cup / UEFA Champions League matches. One of the biggest achievements of his career was pulling off the miracle in Barcelona. Injury-time goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær helped him secure an unprecedented treble that season.
Sir Alex Ferguson lifted his second Champions League title in 2008 with a strong squad that also made it to the final in 2009 and 2011, only to be defeated on both occasions by a flawless Barcelona side led by Pep Guardiola.
Manchester United have not made it past the Champions League quarterfinals since 2010-11 but have found success in the Europa League, winning it for the first time in 2017.
T2. Jupp Heynckes - Two | 1998 (Real Madrid) and 2013 (Bayern Munich)
'The child of Bundesliga', as Jupp Heynckes describes himself, is best known for his spells as the manager of German heavyweights Bayern Munich.
Heynckes had an illustrious 35-year-long managerial career, which took him across three different countries and nine different clubs. He retired from coaching after helping Bayern Munich lift the Bundesliga title in 2018.
Though he might not have a lot of silverware to show from his travels, his record in the Champions League has been exceptional. It might come as a surprise, but the German has only led a side into the Champions League on four occasions, once with Real Madrid and thrice with Bayern Munich.
He won the Champions League in his debut season with Real Madrid in 1997-98, bringing the trophy at Santiago Bernabeu after an agonising wait of 32 years.
However, his biggest achievement was winning the treble with Bayern Munich in 2012-13 . Heynckes also holds the record for most consecutive victories (12) in the competition.
Also See: European Team of the Season (2019/20) according to ratings.
T2. Jose Mourinho - Two | 2004 (FC Porto) and 2010 (Inter Milan)
The jury is still out on where Jose Mourinho ranks among the greatest football managers of all time due to a decline in his output in recent years. However, one thing's for sure that he will go down as one of the most controversial managers of all time.
Mourinho displayed his impressive tactical knowledge and understanding of the game from the very beginning of his managerial career. He got his first big break with Porto, leading them to the Champions League title in his first season in-charge. In 2002-03, Mourinho led Porto to an unlikely triumph in the competition after beating mighty Manchester United in the last 16.
He has enjoyed a lot of success in the first decade of the century, winning multiple trophies with Chelsea and Inter Milan. The defining moment of his career came in 2009-10 when he guided a modest Inter squad to a treble, thanks to a win at all cost mentality and a no-nonsense defensive approach.
Mourinho has also added a Europa League trophy to his cabinet since with Manchester United in 2017, but he is often criticiced for his strategies which seem dated and ineffective in the current scenario.
T2. Pep Guardiola - Two | 2009, 2011 (FC Barcelona)
They say that the first impression is the last, and you will be judged by how you perform in your first job. Well, if that's the metric for football managers, Pep Guardiola has to get full scores for his incredible managerial debut with Barcelona in the 2008-09 season.
in 2009, Guardiola helped Barcelona complete a historic treble as the Catalan club won the Copa del Rey, La Liga and the Champions League. That form continued into the next season as the club won the Spanish Super Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA World Club Cup.
That legendary side built around La Masia's golden generation - Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez - won all six trophies up for grabs in 2010 and completed an unprecedented sextuple in the process.
Also Read: Lionel Messi net worth
In his four years at Camp Nou, Guardiola made it into the Champions League semifinals on each occasion, winning the competition in 2009 and 2011.
If we were to make a list of Champions League-winning managers based on the quality of wins rather than the quantity, Guardiola would be right at the top.
Also See: 5 Premier League managers with the best managerial start record.
T1. Carlo Ancelotti - Three | 2003, 2007 (AC Milan) and 2014 (Real Madrid)
When talking about successful managers in the Champions League, it is difficult to leave out current Everton manager Carlo Ancelotti who has won the competition thrice in his career.
The Italian has a remarkable managerial resume, having coached some of the world's greatest clubs and subsequently some of the best players during his illustrious career. He has won league titles in four of five countries he has managed clubs in, only missed out on the top honour in Spain with Real Madrid.
But with the La Liga giants, Ancelotti won his third Champions League trophy, leading Real Madrid to a victory over bitter rivals Atletico Madrid to lift the coveted La Decima in 2014. In the process, he matched Bob Paisley's record of three triumphs in the European Cup/Champions League and became the first manager to lift three Champions League trophies.
Ancelotti has made it to four finals in the competition, which is more than that of any other manager, and has been victorious in three of them. He first tasted success in the Champions League with AC Milan in 2003 and repeated the feat in 2007 when Milan avenged their 2005 defeat against Liverpool.
Like Mourinho, Ancelotti has not been very successful in recent times as he strives to secure his first silverware since 2017 with Everton.
T1. Zinedine Zidane | 2016, 2017, 2018 (Real Madrid)
Zinedine Zidane is widely considered as one of the greatest and most successful midfielders of all time. And with the kind of managerial career he's had so far across two stints at Real Madrid, he might as well be on his way to establishing himself as one of the greatest managers of all time as well.
The Frenchman's managerial career started in 2013-14 when he was appointed the Real Madrid assistant coach under Carlo Ancelotti. Within six months, he became the acting head coach of Real Madrid's B team, and in January 2016, he was appointed the first team's head coach.
The series of events that have followed his appointment at the helm of affairs at Santiago Bernabeu are now a part of history. In just two and a half years as Madrid's head coach, between January 2016 and May 2018, Zidane led his side to an unprecedented three back-to-back triumphs in the Champions League.
Though he may not be married to any particular style of play or tactic, he gets the results, and in the end, that's what people remember him for.
He won his second La Liga trophy as a manager this season, one more than he managed as a player, though his side crashed out of the Champions League in the Round of 16 to Pep Guardiola's excellent Manchester City.
Also Read: 5 football managers who were sacked after winning trophies.
