Pep Guardiola confirmed Friday what Manchester City fans had been fearing. The club’s most successful manager is leaving, bringing to a close a trophy-laden, 10-year spell in which he established City as one of major forces in Europe and changed the face of English soccer.
Guardiola, who had a further year left on his City contract, will take charge of his final game against Aston Villa in the Premier League on Sunday.
“Don’t ask me the reasons I’m leaving. There is no reason, but deep inside, I know it’s my time,” Guardiola said. “Nothing is eternal, if it was, I would be here. Eternal will be the feeling, the people, the memories, the love I have for my Manchester City.”
City said Guardiola would take up a role as global ambassador.
Enzo Maresca — the former Chelsea manager who was previously assistant to Guardiola at City — is the favorite to take on the daunting task of filling Guardiola’s shoes after a decade of unprecedented dominance.
Since joining City in the summer of 2016, Guardiola led the Abu Dhabi-backed team to six Premier League titles and the Champions League for the first time in 2023.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola celebrates with the trophy after winning the Emirates FA Cup Final match between Chelsea and Manchester City on May 16, 2026 in London, England. (Photo by Visionhaus/Getty Images)
He won 17 major trophies in all, including a domestic double this season of the English League Cup and the FA Cup. He has won 35 major titles across his coaching career including his time at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
City was far his longest job in management, having never previously stayed more than four years in a role.
He set new benchmarks, with City becoming the first team to win four-straight English league titles and the first to amass 100 points in a single season in 2018. The following year City became the first team to win the domestic treble of the league, FA Cup and League Cup in the same season.
But his biggest achievement was leading City to the ultimate treble in 2023, winning the league, Champions League and FA Cup — matching Manchester United’s feat from more than 20 years earlier in 1999.
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He additionally dropped at England a method of soccer — a possession-based strategy that began with enjoying the ball out from the goalkeeper or protection — that ended up being mimicked throughout the nation, from youngsters’ groups at grassroots degree to rival groups within the Premier League.
“The distinctive strategy that he brings to his teaching has allowed him to continually problem the accepted truths of our sport. It’s the purpose that within the final 10 years he has not solely made Manchester Metropolis higher — he has additionally made soccer higher,” Metropolis chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak stated. He added that it was the “proper reply” for Guardiola to stroll away now.
Whereas he goes out on one other trophy-winning marketing campaign, this was the primary time in his profession that he has gone two seasons with out being topped league champion.
Metropolis was additionally eradicated from the Champions League earlier than the quarterfinal stage in every of the final two years.
Guardiola embraces Rayan Cherki of Manchester Metropolis through the Premier League match between Manchester Metropolis and Crystal Palace at Etihad Stadium. (Photograph by James Gill – Danehouse/Getty Photographs)
Metropolis stated Guardiola’s new position would see him give technical recommendation to golf equipment in its possession group.
“Pep’s legacy is extraordinary and its true affect might be higher assessed by Manchester Metropolis historians of the longer term,” stated chief govt Ferran Sorriano. “If there’s something harder than profitable, it’s profitable once more. It requires unimaginable persistence, resilience and the humility to begin once more yearly, with the identical vitality, time and again. That is what Pep did.”
Whereas Guardiola will go down as one of many best managers in Premier League historical past — rivaling Alex Ferguson — he repeatedly needed to defend Metropolis towards allegations of monetary breaches, with greater than 100 prices nonetheless hanging over the membership.
Metropolis was accused of offering deceptive details about its funds over a nine-year interval from 2009-18 — a span during which it gained three titles and signed a few of the world’s greatest gamers, like Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero and Kevin de Bruyne. A kind of titles was gained beneath Guardiola.
Metropolis has at all times denied wrongdoing. Guardiola stated he “absolutely satisfied” the membership was harmless.
“We labored. We suffered. We fought. And we did issues our personal approach. Our approach,” stated Guardiola in his farewell message to followers.
Reporting by The Related Press.
