Pep Guardiola has won the 2023 The Best FIFA Men’s Coach award after leading Manchester City to their epic treble last season.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss oversaw a superstar squad including the likes of Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne as the Cityzens were successful in the Premier League, FA Cup and the Champions League.
Guardiola saw off competition from Inter boss Simone Inzaghi and Napoli title winner Luciano Spalletti, now in charge of the Italy national men’s team.
He also became the first coach to win two European trebles, having won it all back in 2009 with Barca.
Current Blaugrana boss Xavi was previously shortlisted before the final three were picked, while Ange Postecoglou was also recognised for winning a domestic treble with Celtic before joining Tottenham Hotspur.
It is the first time Guardiola has won the prize, having finished second in 2019 and third in both 2021 and 2022. His win sees the trophy return to a club manager after Lionel Scaloni was rewarded for leading Argentina to World Cup glory in Qatar.
Guardiola is the seventh manager to win the men’s coach award, trailing Jurgen Klopp who won it in back-to-back years in 2019 and 2020. Zinedine Zidane, Didier Deschamps, Claudio Ranieri and Thomas Tuchel are the other previously successful coaches.
From his Man City squad, Haaland was named in the final three alongside Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi for the The Best FIFA Men’s Player award, while De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan – now at Barca – Rodri and Bernardo Silva were also shortlisted. Ederson was also nominated for the Best FIFA Men’s Goalkeeper.
Following their incredible achievements of 2022/23, City started the current campaign sluggishly by their own standards but are safely into the knockout stages of the Champions League and only two points behind Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table.
