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The UEFA Champions League is the blue riband event of European club football. Formerly called the European Champions Club Cup, the competition was rebranded as the Champions League in the 1992-93 season.
Many accomplished and legendary managers have graced the competition in its latest avatar. Five different managers have managed over 100 games in the UEFA Champions League, with all but one of them managing to win the competition.
8 managers with the most Champions League titles
Eighteen different managers have won the UEFA Champions League during the competition's near three-decade history, with a handful of them, eight to be exact, managing to win the competition on multiple occasions.
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On that note, let us have a look at this most-successful managerial octet in the Champions League.
# 8. Ottmar Hitzfeld - 2 titles
Ottmar Hitzfeld became the first manager to win the Champions League with two different clubs when he delivered Bayern Munich's first title in the Champions League era in 2001, four years after doing the same with Borussia Dortmund.
During a long and storied managerial career, the 71-year-old tactician made his name as one of the most successful tacticians in German and international football.
A year after losing to Juventus in the 1996 Champions League final, Hitzfeld's men turned the tables on the Bianconeri when Borussia Dortmund locked horns with the defending champions in the title match the next year as well.
Two years later, Hitzfeld, now with Bayern Munich, stood on the cusp of another Champions League win, but Manchester United scored twice in injury time in the Barcelona final. However, in 2001, Bayern and Hitzfeld were not to be denied.
A penalty-shootout win over Valencia meant that the Bavarian giants ended their two-and-half-decade wait for another Champions League/European Club Cup title after winning it last in 1975/76.
#7. Jose Mourinho - 2 titles
It was in the Champions League where Jose Mourinho first announced himself on the European stage. The then 41-year-old Portuguese tactician's Porto downed English giants Manchester United en route to winning the 2004 edition of the competition, and there would be no looking back for Mourinho from there.
Mourinho, who is now the manager of Tottenham Hotspur, is not involved in the 2020-21 Champions League as Spurs did not qualify for the competition. However, the much-travelled Portuguese has managed over 150 games for six teams in 17 different seasons in the Champions League.
With Inter Milan in 2010, Mourinho won his second Champions League title to join a select group of managers to have achieved the feat. However, since then, the Portuguese tactician hasn't managed to reach another Champions League final.
#6. Sir Alex Ferguson - 2 titles
One of the most legendary managers in the history of the sport, Sir Alex Ferguson has won a plethora of titles during his illustrious near four-decade managerial career.
Nine years after winning the continental treble with Manchester United in 1999, the Scot won his second Champions League title after beating Chelsea in an all-English final in Moscow. Ferguson's triumph in the Russian capital made him the oldest manager to win the Champions League, before his record was broken five years later.
Nevertheless, Ferguson's 19 seasons and 194 matches in the Champions League are the most by any manager in the competition's history.
#5. Vicente Del Bosque - 2 titles
Vicente Del Bosque is one of the most decorated managers in the history of the game. In fact, the 69-year-old Spaniard is the only manager to have won the FIFA World Cup, European Championship and the Champions League.
Before his success in international football, Del Bosque made his name at La Liga giants Real Madrid with whom he won two league titles and as many Champions Leagues.
In the final of the 1999-2000 edition of the competition, which was the first title match between two teams from the same nation, Real Madrid scored three unanswered goals past fellow La Liga side Valencia to win their second Champions League title in three years and their eighth overall.
In fact, it was the first title of Del Bosque's managerial career. Two years later, a blistering Zinedine Zidane volley against Bayer Leverkusen in Glasgow delivered Real Madrid their ninth Champions League title as the veteran manager joined a select group of managers to win the competition on multiple occasions.
#4. Pep Guardiola - 2 titles
Pep Guardiola is one of the finest active managers in the sport. He made his name at Barcelona where he enjoyed unprecedented success despite having no prior managerial experience.
During this period, Guardiola's all-conquering Barcelona, driven by the likes of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Xavi Hernandez, won two Champions League titles in three years. The Blaugrana's 2009 triumph was part of a continental treble, which made Guardiola the first person in Champions League history to win the competition as a player and a manager.
After his second Champions League win in 2011, Guardiola, is, however, yet to repeat his Barcelona heroics at any of his subsequent clubs - Bayern Munich and Manchester City.
Nevertheless, in February this year, Guardiola became the manager with the most wins in Champions League knockout games when City eliminated Real Madrid in the Round of 16.
#3. Jupp Heynckes - 2 titles
Jupp Heynckes etched his name into Real Madrid folklore when he delivered the club's first title in the Champions League era in 1998, 32 long years after the club won their sixth in the competition when it was known as the European Champions Club Cup.
A decade and a half later, the German became the oldest manager to win the Champions League, now with Bayern Munich, as the Bavarian giants prevailed in the first all-German final in the competition en route to completing their first continental treble.
During his stint with Bayern Munich, Heynckes became the first manager in the competition to win 11 consecutive games.
#2. Carlo Ancelotti - 3 titles
After winning two Champions League titles with Italian giants AC Milan, Carlo Ancelotti endeared himself to the Real Madrid faithful by ending the club's much-awaited wait for a La Decima in 2014.
Since winning their ninth title in the competition in 2002, Real Madrid did not make the final of the Champions League for 12 years before booking a date with crosstown rivals Atletico Madrid in the 2014 title match.
After Sergio Ramos scored in the dying embers of the final to force extra-time, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score for two different winning teams in the Champions League final as Los Blancos won their tenth title in the competition.
That made the veteran Italian tactician, who has managed 165 games for a record eight teams in 18 different seasons of the competition, the first to win three Champions League titles.
Besides AC Milan and Real Madrid, Ancelotti has also managed the likes of Parma, Juventus, Chelsea, Paris St. Germain, Bayern Munich, and most recently, Napoli in the blue-riband event of European club football.
During his decorated managerial resume, Ancelotti has also won league titles in four of the five top-5 leagues in Europe, only failing to do so at Real Madrid despite delivering their tenth Champions League title.
#1. Zinedine Zidane - 3 titles
After a legendary playing career, it did not take long for Zinedine Zidane to make his mark as a manager.
The Frenchman won his first Champions League title as a manager in 2016, which made him the first after Pep Guardiola to win the competition both as a player and a manager.
A successful title defence the next year meant that Zidane became the first manager in Champions League history to win consecutive titles with the same team. His third triumph in the competition, which came in 2018, helped Zidane join Ancelotti as the only managers to win three Champions League titles.
With Cristiano Ronaldo producing the goals and the inspiration up front, Zidane's Real Madrid became the team to beat in the Champions League, but the Frenchman has also displayed his managerial acumen in key games.
Before Real Madrid's Round-of-16 exit to Manchester City in last season's competition, Zidane was unbeaten in 12 previous Champions League ties.
