List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers

The European Cup was an association football competition contested from 1956 to 1992. Spanish manager José Villalonga led Real Madrid to success in the inaugural final in 1956 and repeated the feat the following season. Italian managers have been the most successful, winning thirteen of the tournaments since 1956.

UEFA Champions League trophy

The competition became the UEFA Champions League in 1992,^[1] with Belgian Raymond Goethals leading French club Marseille to success that season. Bob Paisley, Zinedine Zidane and Pep Guardiola have won the tournament three times. Ancelotti won five titles and reached six finals with Milan and Real Madrid, Paisley led Liverpool to three titles in five seasons, and Zidane won three consecutive titles with Real Madrid. Sixteen other managers have won the competition twice. Only six managers have won the title with two clubs: Ancelotti with Milan in 2003 and 2007 and Real Madrid in 2014, 2022, and 2024; Ernst Happel with Feyenoord in 1970 and Hamburg in 1983; Ottmar Hitzfeld with Borussia Dortmund in 1997 and Bayern Munich in 2001; José Mourinho with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010; Jupp Heynckes with Real Madrid in 1998 and Bayern Munich in 2013; and Guardiola with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011 and Manchester City in 2023. Seven men have won the tournament both as a player and as a manager: Miguel Muñoz, Giovanni Trapattoni, Johan Cruyff, Frank Rijkaard, Ancelotti, Guardiola and Zidane.^[2][3]

European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers

By year

Carlo Ancelotti became the first and only manager to win five titles when he led Real Madrid to victory in 2024. He also reached a record total of six Champions League finals.

Bob Paisley was the first manager to win the title three times, all with Liverpool.

Zinedine Zidane is the only manager to have won titles in three consecutive years, all with Real Madrid.

Pep Guardiola won three titles in 2009, 2011 and 2023, with Barcelona and Manchester City.

Brian Clough won back-to-back titles as manager of Nottingham Forest.

Ernst Happel was the first manager to win the title with two different clubs.

Ottmar Hitzfeld, winning manager in 1997 and 2001.

Jupp Heynckes, winning manager in 1998 and 2013.

Alex Ferguson won two titles as manager of Manchester United in 1999 and 2008, and reached a further two finals.

Vicente del Bosque won two titles as manager of Real Madrid in 2000 and 2002.

European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers*^[4][5]

Final	Nationality	Winning manager	Nation	Club	Ref.
1956	Spain	José Villalonga	Spain	Real Madrid	[6]
1957	Spain	José Villalonga	Spain	Real Madrid	[6]
1958	Argentina	Luis Carniglia	Spain	Real Madrid	[6]
1959	Argentina	Luis Carniglia	Spain	Real Madrid	[6]
1960	Spain	Miguel Muñoz	Spain	Real Madrid	[6]
1961	Hungary	Béla Guttmann	Portugal	Benfica	[6]
1962	Hungary	Béla Guttmann	Portugal	Benfica	[6]
1963	Italy	Nereo Rocco	Italy	Milan	[6]
1964	Argentina	Helenio Herrera	Italy	Inter Milan	[6]
1965	Argentina	Helenio Herrera	Italy	Inter Milan	[6]
1966	Spain	Miguel Muñoz	Spain	Real Madrid	[6]
1967	Scotland	Jock Stein	Scotland	Celtic	[7]
1968	Scotland	Matt Busby	England	Manchester United	[8]
1969	Italy	Nereo Rocco	Italy	Milan	[6]
1970	Austria	Ernst Happel	Netherlands	Feyenoord	[9]
1971	Netherlands	Rinus Michels	Netherlands	Ajax	[10]
1972	Romania	Ștefan Kovács	Netherlands	Ajax	[6]
1973	Romania	Ștefan Kovács	Netherlands	Ajax	[6]
1974	West Germany	Udo Lattek	West Germany	Bayern Munich	[11]
1975	West Germany	Dettmar Cramer	West Germany	Bayern Munich	[6]
1976	West Germany	Dettmar Cramer	West Germany	Bayern Munich	[6]
1977	England	Bob Paisley	England	Liverpool	[6]
1978	England	Bob Paisley	England	Liverpool	[6]
1979	England	Brian Clough	England	Nottingham Forest	[6]
1980	England	Brian Clough	England	Nottingham Forest	[6]
1981	England	Bob Paisley	England	Liverpool	[6]
1982	England	Tony Barton	England	Aston Villa	[12]
1983	Austria	Ernst Happel	West Germany	Hamburger SV	[13]
1984	England	Joe Fagan	England	Liverpool	[14]
1985	Italy	Giovanni Trapattoni	Italy	Juventus	[15]
1986	Romania	Emerich Jenei	Romania	Steaua București	[16]
1987	Portugal	Artur Jorge	Portugal	Porto	[17]
1988	Netherlands	Guus Hiddink	Netherlands	PSV Eindhoven	[18]
1989	Italy	Arrigo Sacchi	Italy	Milan	[6]
1990	Italy	Arrigo Sacchi	Italy	Milan	[6]
1991	Yugoslavia	Ljupko Petrović	Yugoslavia	Red Star Belgrade	[19]
1992	Netherlands	Johan Cruyff	Spain	Barcelona	[20]
1993	Belgium	Raymond Goethals	France	Marseille	[21]
1994	Italy	Fabio Capello	Italy	Milan	[22]
1995	Netherlands	Louis van Gaal	Netherlands	Ajax	[23]
1996	Italy	Marcello Lippi	Italy	Juventus	[24]
1997	Germany	Ottmar Hitzfeld	Germany	Borussia Dortmund	[6]
1998	Germany	Jupp Heynckes	Spain	Real Madrid	[25]
1999	Scotland	Alex Ferguson	England	Manchester United	[26]
2000	Spain	Vicente del Bosque	Spain	Real Madrid	[6]
2001	Germany	Ottmar Hitzfeld	Germany	Bayern Munich	[6]
2002	Spain	Vicente del Bosque	Spain	Real Madrid	[6]
2003	Italy	Carlo Ancelotti	Italy	Milan	[27]
2004	Portugal	José Mourinho	Portugal	Porto	[28]
2005	Spain	Rafael Benítez	England	Liverpool	[29]
2006	Netherlands	Frank Rijkaard	Spain	Barcelona	[30]
2007	Italy	Carlo Ancelotti	Italy	Milan	[31]
2008	Scotland	Alex Ferguson	England	Manchester United	[32]
2009	Spain	Pep Guardiola	Spain	Barcelona	[33]
2010	Portugal	José Mourinho	Italy	Inter Milan	[34]
2011	Spain	Pep Guardiola	Spain	Barcelona	[35]
2012	Italy	Roberto Di Matteo	England	Chelsea	[36]
2013	Germany	Jupp Heynckes	Germany	Bayern Munich	[37]
2014	Italy	Carlo Ancelotti	Spain	Real Madrid	[38]
2015	Spain	Luis Enrique	Spain	Barcelona	[39]
2016	France	Zinedine Zidane	Spain	Real Madrid	[40]
2017	France	Zinedine Zidane	Spain	Real Madrid	[41]
2018	France	Zinedine Zidane	Spain	Real Madrid	[42]
2019	Germany	Jürgen Klopp	England	Liverpool	[43]
2020	Germany	Hansi Flick	Germany	Bayern Munich	[44]
2021	Germany	Thomas Tuchel	England	Chelsea	[45]
2022	Italy	Carlo Ancelotti	Spain	Real Madrid	[46]
2023	Spain	Pep Guardiola	England	Manchester City	[47]
2024	Italy	Carlo Ancelotti	Spain	Real Madrid	[48]

Managers with multiple titles

Managers in bold are still active.

Rank	Nationality	Manager	Number of wins	Years won	Club(s)
1	Italy	Carlo Ancelotti	5	2003, 2007, 2014, 2022, 2024	Milan (2), Real Madrid (3)
2	England	Bob Paisley	3	1977, 1978, 1981	Liverpool
	France	Zinedine Zidane	3	2016, 2017, 2018	Real Madrid
	Spain	Pep Guardiola	3	2009, 2011, 2023	Barcelona (2), Manchester City
5	Spain	José Villalonga	2	1956, 1957	Real Madrid
	Argentina	Luis Carniglia	2	1958, 1959	Real Madrid
	Hungary	Béla Guttmann	2	1961, 1962	Benfica
	Argentina	Helenio Herrera	2	1964, 1965	Inter Milan
	Spain	Miguel Muñoz	2	1960, 1966	Real Madrid
	Italy	Nereo Rocco	2	1963, 1969	Milan
	Romania	Ștefan Kovács	2	1972, 1973	Ajax
	Germany	Dettmar Cramer	2	1975, 1976	Bayern Munich
	England	Brian Clough	2	1979, 1980	Nottingham Forest
	Austria	Ernst Happel	2	1970, 1983	Feyenoord, Hamburger SV
	Italy	Arrigo Sacchi	2	1989, 1990	Milan
	Germany	Ottmar Hitzfeld	2	1997, 2001	Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich
	Spain	Vicente del Bosque	2	2000, 2002	Real Madrid
	Scotland	Alex Ferguson	2	1999, 2008	Manchester United
	Portugal	José Mourinho	2	2004, 2010	Porto, Inter Milan
	Germany	Jupp Heynckes	2	1998, 2013	Real Madrid, Bayern Munich

Most wins as both player and manager

This table lists the individuals who have won the competition both as a player and a manager, in order of frequency.

Nationality	Name	Wins as player	Wins as manager	Total
Italy	Carlo Ancelotti	2	5	7
Spain	Miguel Munoz	3	2	5
Netherlands	Johan Cruyff	3	1	4
Netherlands	Frank Rijkaard	3	1	4
Spain	Josep Guardiola	1	3	4
France	Zinedine Zidane	1	3	4
Italy	Giovanni Trapattoni	2	1	3

By nationality

This table lists the total number of titles won by managers of each country. Accurate as of the 2024 final.

European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers by nationality

Nationality	Number of wins
Italy	13
Spain	11
Germany[a]	10
England	7
Netherlands	5
Argentina[b]	4
Scotland	4
France	3
Portugal	3
Romania	3
Austria	2
Hungary	2
Belgium	1
Yugoslavia	1

1. Includes West Germany.
2. Includes the titles won by Helenio Herrera, who also had French citizenship.

See also

• European Cup and UEFA Champions League records and statistics