Pep Guardiola

Josep (Pep) Maria Guardiola y Sala is a famous soccer player and coach of Manchester City FC (London).

Brief biography

Pep Guardiola was born on January 18, 1971 in the city of Sandepor, in Catalonia, Spain.

From 1983 to 1990 he played for the youth team of FC Barcelona.

In 1990 he was transferred to the main team ofBarcelona, in which he played as a midfielder until 2001.

After leavingBarcelona, until 2006 he played one season in such teams as:

• Italian FCBrescia from the city of the same name.

• FC Roma (Rome).

• Qatari FC "Al-Ahri" (Doha).

• Mexican FCDorados de Sinaloa(Culiacan).

Guardiola also played for the Italian national soccer team, taking part in 47 matches. Another seven games he played in the national team of Catalonia.

In 2008, he finished his career as a player and headed the coaching staff of FCBarcelona until 2012.

In 2013, he accepted the invitation of German FC Bayern Munich and signed a contract with the team for the position of head coach until 2016.

On February 1, 2016 Guardiola signed a three-year contract as a coach with the London clubManchester City.

Pep Guardiola statistics

During his career as a player, Pep Guardiola played a total of 463 matches, scoring a total of 26 goals.

Under his leadership as a coach, Guardiola's teams have played 593 games, of which they have won 431 of them.

Pep Guardiola's personal achievements include:

• English Premier League season coach of the season title.

• The title of four-time Spanish Coach of the Year.

• Onze d'Or Football Coach of the Year.

• Two-time European Coach of the Year.

• Two-time World Club Coach of the Year.

• FIFA Coach of the Year.

• Coach of the Year by the Globe Soccer Awards.

Pep Guardiola in books

A number of extremely popular books have been devoted to Pep Guardiola's coaching career:

• "Pep. Confidential." Written by Marty Perarnau.

• "Pep Guardiola. At the Peak." Written by Guillem Balague.

• "Barça. How the best team in the world was created." Written by Graham Hunter.

Pep Guardiola and his wife

Guardiola is married to Cristina Serra. The couple are raising three children, Marius, Mari and Valentina.