At an awards ceremony in London, Pep Guardiola has been named by FIFA as The Best Men’s Coach of the Year for his notable successes with Manchester City throughout the latter half of 2022/23. It is the first time the Spaniard has received the award, as he fended of competition from both Luciano Spalletti and Simone Inzaghi.
The award takes into account performances from December 19th, 2022 through to August 20th, 2023 – thus including the Citizens’ incredible treble triumph that saw them lift the Premier League, Emirates FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League.
Embed from Getty ImagesGuardiola’s seventh season in Manchester was arguably the best of his entire career, despite a quarterfinal exit from the Carabao Cup and a Community Shield defeat to Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.
Having already twice conquered Europe with Barcelona, a third UEFA Champions League title will have undoubtedly been a major contributing factor to Guardiola’s success as he picks up another individual accolade in London.
Receiving the award, Guardiola said that ‘I will never forget what [City Football Group] have done for me, so thank you so much. On behalf of me and my backroom staff, thank you so much to our players for what they have done for our club.’
‘Winning or losing it doesn’t matter, living with them has been an incredible pleasure… It is a dream come true, we could not expect years ago to be here winning the treble with Manchester City.‘
Speaking after being named in the FIFPRO Men’s Best XI, Ruben Dias piled on the praise for his manager. ‘I would start by saying that [Pep] is intense,’ he joked, but explained that ‘in the end, he makes you see football in a way that not everybody is able to. Somehow, through that intensity, he does get the best out of everyone so I would say you can have different personalities as a coach but in the end, the one you want is the one that gets the best out of you.’
