It all started on Sept. 2, 2007, in a Spanish fourth-tier game against Premia in front of around 2,000 fans.
Eighteen years later, Pep Guardiola will reach 1,000 games as a coach when he leads Manchester City into one of the biggest games in world soccer — against Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday.
“I never thought for one second about reaching 1,000 games,” the 54-year-old Guardiola said. “You just want to do a good job, play football the right way and see what happens.”
From his first job with Barcelona ‘B’ to trophy-laden stints with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, Guardiola has changed the face of soccer in his remarkable coaching career.
He thanked all the great players — they include Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez, Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne — that have helped him along the way.
“After that," Guardiola added Friday, ”it's a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication, passion, love. In that, nobody beats me."
Here's a by-the-numbers look at Guardiola as a coach — and even he is shocked by the statistics.
“The numbers are insane, I'm sorry to tell you,” Guardiola said with a smile. “When you have this milestone and you read what you have done ... if I start again, I will not reach it.”
Number of wins from Guardiola's 999 games so far. It's a win-rate of 71.57%.
Number of trophies won by Guardiola in his coaching career, averaging one every 25 matches.
Number of seasons at Man City, making it by far his longest tenure as a coach.
Most goals scored by Guardiola's teams in a single match. It has happened twice — firstly Barcelona in a 9-0 thrashing of L’Hospitalet in the Copa del Rey in December 2011 and then Man City in a 9-0 beating of Burton Albion in the English League Cup in January 2019.
Number of Champions League titles won by Guardiola (2009 and 2011 with Barcelona, 2023 with Man City ). Only one coach, Carlo Ancelotti (five), has more.
Number of seasons taken off by Guardiola since 2007 — a sabbatical in 2012-13 during which he spent time in New York.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
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