Jose Mourinho, often considered one of the greatest managers ever in football, has hinted at his desire to take up the mantle of coaching a national side in future before his retirement.

In an interview with Corriere dello Sport, the 61-year-old Portuguese expressed his desire which is the only thing he has not done yet in his illustrious career; managing a national team. 

Mourinho: "Quero jogar um Europeu ou um Mundial e unir um país em torno de uma equipa, como já fiz muitas vezes com os clubes" 🚨

"Quero fazê-lo pelo futebol e pelo que este desporto representa. Vai ser incrível!" 👀

Via: @CorSport pic.twitter.com/7AaFHpSnPT

— Cabine Desportiva (@CabineSport) December 31, 2024

Having managed elite European clubs such as Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Tottenham, and AS Roma; Mourinho is currently in charge as the head coach of the Turkish side Fenerbahce since June 2024. 

"I want to do this for football"

In an exclusive interview with Corriere dello Sport, Mourinho said that he wants to manage a national side as he wants to "do this for football". He stated:

Yes. I want to play a European Championship or a World Cup, to unite a country around its national team in the same way I have managed so many times with clubs and fans. I want to do it for football, for what this sport represents. It will be incredible.

Before joining Fenerbahce, Mourinho managed AS Roma, where he won the inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League and lost on penalties against Sevilla in the UEFA Europa League final in the following season. He was sacked in January 2024.

However, Mourinho expressed that he takes more interest in Inter Milan where he won two Scudettos and one Champions League from 2008 to 2010. 

I haven't seen Roma play anymore. Inter, yes!

Mourinho also addressed that he had to refuse Florentino Perez as he decided to re-join Chelsea in 2013. He said the following when questioned if he has any regrets in his career:

If you're referring to professional choices, the no to Florentino. He told me 'Mou, don't leave now, you've done the hard part and the good part is yet to come... I knew it would be like this, but I wanted to return to Chelsea after three years in Spain of great struggles...

Mourinho has won almost every possible trophy during his 23-year-long managerial career. Now, he has set his eyes on an international accolade with a national side.

Previously, in an interview with beIN Sports in 2019, Mourinho showed his interest in coaching a national team. In that interview, he said:

I want to compete in new competitions, I think about the World Cup and the European Championships. For a long time, I have the desire to try such an adventure, because right now, I see myself more with a national team than a new club

Mourinho admits he would love to coach an international side... but not just yet.#beINMourinho #beINAFC #AsianCup2019 pic.twitter.com/52jxgYQnv3

— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS_EN) January 17, 2019

Earlier in 2024, Mourinho also told renowned journalist Fabrizio Romano that he may coach a national side in future. He affirmed:

To coach a national team is an objective for me. 

Maybe right before World Cup, Euros or the Copa America, African Cup… I can, yes. 

But waiting two years for that, I don’t know!

Maybe one day it will happen.

In football, a team wins a treble when they win three major trophies in a single season. Winning the continental treble means winning the premier national league competition, the main national cup competition, and the main continental trophy, for UEFA, which is the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Europa League.

Though winning the Europa League is also considered a treble, it is not accepted wholeheartedly by the pundits and fans as winning the UEFA Champions League. 

Till now, 9 European clubs have been able to win the continental treble. Before we discuss all the European treble winners in men's football history, we must know about the types of Trebles we have in football. 

Barcelona is the only club to win multiple trebles with both their men's and women's team, completing the feat in 2024.

Continental treble

This is considered the actual treble in football where a team go on to win the national league, national cup competition and the main continental trophy. Celtic Football Club in 1966-67 became the first team in football history to win a Continental treble. Till now, 22 men's teams have won the Continental Treble, with 30 being the total number of times. In Europe, only 8 football teams have been able to accomplish the feat.

Domestic treble

Generally, for most of the footballing nations, winning a domestic treble is not possible since they do not allow first-division teams to win any secondary cup or league. A domestic treble includes winning three national competitions, including the national league title, the national cup competition, and one secondary competition. Countries which were under British or French possessions once allowed domestic trebles to happen. Celtic with 8 domestic trebles, and Rangers, with 7, are the most successful teams when it comes to winning domestic trebles.

European treble winners in men's football history

1. Celtic | 1966-67

In the 1966-67 season, Celtic became the first team ever to win the continental treble when they won the Scottish Football League, Scottish Cup and European Cup (UEFA Champions League now).

Celtic with 58 points in the Scottish Football League went past Rangers to clinch the national league. In the Scottish Cup, they defeated Aberdeen Football Club by 2-0 in the final to win the trophy. William Wallace was the goalscorer for them in the final. 

In the European Cup, Celtic defeated Inter Milan by 2-1 in Lisbon to become the first-ever Treble winner in football history. Thomas Gemmell and Thomas Chalmers were the scorers for Cletic that day.

2. 1971-72 | Ajax

Ajax, the football club from the Netherlands became the second European team to win the treble in the 1971-72 season. They won the Eredivisie, their national league and then won the KNVB Cup and later on won the European Cup to complete their treble. That season, Ajax were nearly the invincible team losing just one game in the whole season. 

Here are all the teams which went unbeaten in a whole football season. 

In the Eredivisie, Johan Cruyff became their top goal scorer with 25 goals. Ajax with 63 points, 8 points cleared Feijenoord in the second position. In the KNVB Cup, they defeated FC Den Haag in the final by 3-2 to win the cup. Cruyff had scored the opener in that game also and scored three goals in the tournament. 

In the European Cup, they defeated Inter Milan by 2-0 with Johan Cruyff scoring a brace for them. In all together Cruyff had scored 33 goals for them that season in the three tournaments.

3. 1987-1988 | PSV

In the 1987-88 season, PSV became the second team from the Netherlands to win the historical treble. That season they won the Eredivisie, the KNVB Cup and the European Cup. They won their 10th Eredivisie title with 59 points, 9 points clear of Ajax in the league table. Wim Kieft scored 29 goals in that season for PSV in the league. 

In the KNVB Cup final they defeated Roda JC by 3-2 in the extra time. Then, they went on to win the European Cup by defeating Benfica in the final by a 6-5 penalty shootout. Ronald Koeman came out as one of the standout performers for PSV that season. 

Know about defenders with most UEFA Champions League goals.

4. 1998-99 | Manchester United

It took 11 more years for any team to win the European Treble and Manchester United became the first team from England to achieve that feat. United, under  Sir Alex Ferguson won the Premier League, FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League after not winning any trophies in the previous season. The treble is regarded as the achievement in his career, and he was awarded the knighthood in November 1999 after that success. 

They won the Premier League with 79 points, 1 point more than Arsenal. Dwight Yorke with 18 goals was their and League's joint-highest goal scorer in that season. In the FA Cup, despite facing difficult opponents throughout the tournament, Ferguson's men kept on fighting back, and after two semi-final replays against Arsenal and a final against Newcastle United, they won the FA Cup. Paul Scholes and Teddy Sheringham scored for them in a 2-0 win in the final.

Read about teams with the most Premier League titles. 

In the Champions League, they were drawn into the group of death alongside FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Brondby. They qualified for the knockouts as the runner-up from the group and defeated Inter Milan and Juventus in the quarter and semi-finals, respectively, before beating FC Bayern Munich in a historic comeback in the final. In front of 91000 people in Barcelona, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored in the added minutes to hand Manchester United a terrific 2-1 win over Bayern.

Do you know which team won the FA Cup most number of times?

5. 2008-2009 | Barcelona

FC Barcelona in the 2008-09 season became the first Spanish team to win the European Treble. Under their former captain, and Barcelona B coach Pep Guardiola, the Spanish giants reached their peak in that season winning the La Liga, Copa del Rey and UEFA Champions League. They are still the only Spanish team to win the European Treble. 

After selling players like Deco and Ronaldinho, Barcelona started to reorganise their shape as a club and Lionel Messi alongside Samuel Eto'o became their hero at the front. They won La Liga with 87 points, 9 points clear of Real Madrid. Samuel Eto'o with 30 goals in the league was their top scorer. 

In the Copa del Rey final, they defeated Athletic Bilbao by 4-1 as Yaya Toure, Lionel Messi, Xavi Hernandez and Bojan scored for them after conceding an early goal. 

In the 2008-09 Champions League, Barcelona had to clear the qualifying round first to enter the group stage. They defeated Wisła Kraków in a two-legged qualifying round before entering the group stage alongside Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting CP and Basel. 

They topped the group stage and then went on to beat Lyon, Bayern Munich, and Chelsea in the knockouts before beating Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United in the final in Rome. Samuel Eto'o and Lionel Messi scored one goal each as Barcelona scripted history. Messi finished with 38 goals in all competitions that season. That season saw Lionel Messi win his first Ballon d'Or award with a record margin of 240 points than second-position Cristiano Ronaldo.

Barcelona in 2009 became the first team to win a "sextuple" in European football history.

6. 2009-10 | Inter Milan

Right after Barcelona's historical 2008-09 season, Inter Milan created their history as they became the first and still the only Italian team to win the European treble. They were the sixth European Treble winners in the men's football history. It was the "special one", Jose Mourinho's second and last season with the club that helped the Italian giants create history. 

After a historical season with FC Barcelona, Samuel Eto'o was swapped with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and was sold to Inter Milan. Eto'o that season went on to become the only player to win back-to-back European Treble. That season Inter Milan won their fifth consecutive Serie A title, Coppa Italia, and the UEFA Champions League. 

They first won the Coppa Italia by beating Roma in the final. Diego Militao scored the lone goal for them in the final. Then, they won the Serie A on the final match day with 82 points, 2 points more than Roma. Diego Militao scored 22 goals in the league season for them.  

In the UEFA Champions League, they were clubbed with Barcelona, Dynamo Kyiv and Rubin Kazan and progressed to the knockout stage as the runner-up of the group. In the knockouts, they defeated Chelsea, CSKA Moscow and Barcelona before winning 2-0 against Bayern Munich in the final. Militao scored a brace for them and won the player of the match award as well. 

Read about managers with the most wins in UEFA Champions League history.

7. 2012-13 | FC Bayern Munich

In the 2012-13 season, FC Bayern Munich became the first and only German team to win the European Treble. Under head coach Jupp Heynckes, they won their 22nd Bundesliga title, and 5th UEFA Champions League title alongside the DFB-Pokal title. 

Before the season they brought in players like Xherdan Shaqiri, Dante, Claudio Pizarro, Mitchell Weiser, Tom Starke and Mario Mandzukic alongside Javi Martinez for a then-record signing fee. 

In the league, they acquired a record-breaking 91 points as Mario Mandzukic finished with 15 goals against his name. In the DFB-Pokal, they defeated VfB Stuttgart in the final by 3-2 as Mario Gomez scored a brace for them.

In the Champions League, they were grouped with Valencia, BATE Borisov and Lille. They moved to the next stage as the group champions and then faced Arsenal, Juventus and Barcelona in the knockouts. In an all-German final, they defeated Borrusia Dortmund by 2-1 to complete their treble. Mario Mandzukic and Arjen Robben scored for them in the final.

8. 2014-15 | FC Barcelona

Under head coach Luis Enrique, FC Barcelona in the 2014-15 season became the first team in European football history to win the treble more than once. In the summer, Barcelona signed Uruguayan striker  Luis Suarez which helped them create one of the most successful trios in football history in M-S-N with Messi, Suarez and Neymar. They had also signed Marc-André ter Stegen and Ivan Rakitic same season.

They won the La Liga narrowly with 94 points, 2 points clear of Real Madrid. Lionel Messi (43) was outscored by Cristiano Ronaldo (48) in the league that season. Neymar also scored 22 goals for Barcelona in the league that season.

In the Copa del Rey final, they defeated Athletic by 3-1 as Messi scored a brace and Neymar netted once. 

In the Champions League, they faced PSG, Ajax and APOEL in the group stage and advanced to the knockout stage as the champions of the group. They then went on to beat Manchester City, PSG and Bayern Munich before beating Juventus by 3-1 in the final. Neymar, Rakitic and Suarez scored in that final. Messi with 58 goals in all competitions was their top scorer. After that performance, Messi went on to beat Ronaldo and Neymar to win his 5th Ballon d'Or.

9. 2019-20 | FC Bayern Munich

Post Barca's remarkable success in the 2014-15 season, German club FC Bayern Munich went on to equal their records as the second team in European Football history to win the treble more than once. Under coach Hansi Flick they went on to become the second team in European football to win the "sextuple". 

Niko Kovac was the manager for FC Bayern Munich when they started the season, and then Hansi Flick was named as the interim manager. In a season hit by Covid-19, Bayern were forced to play behind closed doors. 

However, that did not restrict them from being their brutal best. Robert Lewandowski broke the record for the most goals scored in a single Bundesliga season (34) as Bayern lifted the league for the 29th time. 

In the DFB-Pokal final, they defeated Bayer Leverkusen by 4-2 as Robert Lewandowski scored a brace for them.

In the UEFA Champions League round of 16, they defeated Chelsea. Then, they humiliated Barcelona by an 8-2 win (the biggest margin in a UEFA Champions League knockout game) and thrashed Lyon by 3-0 before beating PSG by 1-0 in the final. Kingsley Coman scored the all-important goal for them in the final.

10. 2022-23 | Manchester City

In the 2022-23 season, Manchester City became the second English team and 8th overall team to win a European Treble. Pep Guardiola created one of his records as he became the first coach in European history to win the treble more than once.

Manchester City were coming into the season as the Premier League defending champions and signed players like Erling Haaland, Kalvin Phillips and Julian Alvarez to strengthen their squad. Erling Haaland went on to break the record for the most Premier League goals scored in a single season as he scored 35 goals in the whole season. City went on to win their 7th Premier League title with 89 points.

In the FA Cup final, City's captain Iikay Gundogan scored the fastest goal in the FA Cup final's history as they defeated Manchester United by 2-0 in the final. 

The Haaland riot continued in the UEFA Champions League as well as he scored four goals against RB Leipzig in the round of 16. They then went on to beat Bayern in the quarters and Real Madrid in the semis before beating Inter Milan in the final by 1-0. Rodri scored the lone goal for them in the final and was named player of the final as well. 

Erling Haaland scored 52 goals in his 53 games for Manchester City that season. However, despite that performance, he could not beat Lionel Messi to win the Ballon d'Or trophy. 

11. 2024-25 | PSG

PSG became the latest team to win the European treble under Luis Enrique as they clinched their first-ever Champions League trophy, and also lifted the Ligue 1 and Coupe de France trophies.

In Ligue 1, they clinched the French Championship with 84 points, as Ousmane Dembele, with 21 goals, won the Ligue 1 Golden Boot. 

In the Coupe de France final, they defeated Reims by 3-0 as Bradley Barcola scored a brace and Achraf Hakimi scored another goal to seal the win.

In their historic Champions League season, Dembele finished as their top scorer of the season while Desire Doue scored a stunning brace to help them lift the title. Achraf Hakimi scored in all quarters, the semis and the final to become one of the heroes for them.

With this win, Luis Enrique became the second manager to win two European trebles with two different teams. 

With Arne Slot closing on winning the Premier League in his debut season as a manager, we present you the football facts of managers to win the Premier League in their debut season. If or when Liverpool win the Premier League 2024-25 title, Arne Slot will become only the fifth manager in Premier League history to achieve the feat. 

Here are the managers to win the Premier League title in their debut season in the league. Please note we have not included Claudio Ranieri's name for winning the title with Leicester City in 2015-16, because he had already managed Chelsea from 2000 to 2004. 

Managers to win Premier League in their debut season

Jose Mourinho | 2004-05

That is why he is the special one. Jose Mourinho came the Chelsea after winning the Champions League with Porto and created history right after that. In the 2004-05 season, Mourinho arrived at Chelsea with a champion mindset and started the season with a bang by beating Manchester United in his first game at the helm. 

With John Terry as the leader of the pack, young Peter Chech between the goals and players like Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, Mourinho took Chelsea to Premier League success with the then-record highest point of a season (95). 

However, that team still holds the Premier League record for conceding the least goals in a season (15) and most clean sheets in a season (25).

Read Also | Top 10 highest scoring midfielders in the 21st century: Football facts

Carlo Ancelotti | 2009-10

One of the greatest football managers of the generation, Carlo Ancelotti arrived in the Premier League and was able to replicate what Mourinho had done in his debut season. 

While Mourinho had made them solid in defence, the team started to fall apart during his latter years. After a few failures by the next managers, Ancelotti took the responsibility to bring the silverware back to Stamford Bridge. 

Ancelotti unleashed a ruthless attacking mindset within the team which resulted in Chelsea creating the records for most goals scored in a Premier League season (103),  most goals scored at home in a season (68), and winning the league with the best goal difference in a season (71).

Didier Drogba scored 29 goals in the Premier League for them. Frank Lampard also showed his class with 22 league goals that season.

Read Also | Managers with the Most Wins in UCL History

Manuel Pellegrini | 2013-14

Pellegrini led Manchester City to their second-ever Premier League in his debut season as the head coach at Etihad Stadium. After the success of Roberto Mancini just two seasons ago, where we saw Sergio Aguero creating history for them, Pellegrini took City back to the top. 

Yaya Toure with 20 goals led them in front as they scored more than 100 goals in a season for the first time in their history. Eden Dzeko with 16 goals and Sergio Aguero with 17 also were the stars for the Blues.

They won the league two points clear of runners-up Liverpool, who had earned 84 points.

Antonio Conte | 2016-17

Roman Ibrahimbovic somehow was always right with appointing coaches at the right time. Antonio Conte joined Chelsea during the mid-season after Guus Hiddink handled the team as interim coach. 

Conte formed a fluid 3-4-2-1 system and with the team already out of the European title race, he had only one thing to focus on. In a season which he called "a Mourinho season”, Chelesea created history by winning 13 straight league games in a row, an equal record for any English top-flight team to enter this special list of football facts.

Conte went on to win the Premier League Manager of the Month Award for October, November and December months. No manager had won the award in three consecutive months before him. 

Chelsea with 93 points won the Premier League as Conte became the third Chelsea coach to win the league in his debut season. 

The transfer window is one of the most important aspects of football. Before the start of the season and the battles on the pitch, various clubs tussle in the transfer market to sign multiple players.

Essentially, the blueprint for desired success starts from the transfer window, which involves numerous complex negotiations, agreements, and pre-agreements.

A lot of transfers occur regularly in the transfer market, but some remarkable stories are simultaneously amusing, shocking, and surprising. Here is an attempt to tell you some of those unique stories!

5. Didier Drogba to Chelsea

In 2004, Jose Mourinho took the hot seat of the Chelsea coach. The Champions League-winning Coach for Porto, Mourinho was looking for a good striker for his new team. He spotted Didier Drogba who was a striker for French team Olympique de Marseille and was named 2003–04 French Ligue 1 player of the season. In an interview with Bein Sports, he revealed the story behind one of Chelsea's greatest signings.

The then-Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and Jose Mourinho arranged a meeting in a restaurant concerning the team's speculations in the next summer transfer window. When Mourinho mentioned Drogba, Roman did not quite recognize him. Naturally, he wanted to know for whom he was going to pay the transfer fee.

Roman asked, "Who? Who do you want as a striker?... Who is he? Where is he playing?" and Mourinho answered, "Mr. Abramovich, pay. Pay and don't speak"

Drogba signed for Chelsea for 24 million pounds and Mourinho was not proved wrong. Playing until 2012, he scored 157 goals and etched his name as one of Chelsea's greatest strikers in the club's history. Drogba won the Premier League in his first season and won three more Premier Leagues, four League Cups, and one Champions League with Chelsea. 

4. Malcom to Barcelona

In 2018, the Brazilian hot prospect Malcom from the French club Bordeaux completed all the necessary agreements for his transfer to the Italian club AS Roma. Bordeaux agreed to the transfer and even booked a flight to Italy for Malcom. Also, the Roma fans were eagerly waiting to greet their new signing at the airport in Rome. 

But, the situation quickly changed when FC Barcelona entered the transfer negotiations with Bordeaux during the final hours of the transfer market, which is famously known as the 'Eleventh Hour'. They offered a higher fee than Roma, and with Malcolm's insistence, Bordeaux agreed to the transfer to the Spanish club. Malcolm signed for Barcelona on a five-year deal for 41 million euros. 

This was one of the craziest Transfer Hijacks that happened in the last minutes before the transfer window was closed. However, this transfer did not go as expected for Barcelona.

Malcom played just one season flaunting the Blaugrana shirt and he only scored 4 goals and provided 2 assists in 24 appearances. After that season, Barcelona sold Malcom to Zenit Saint Petersburg for 40 million euros.

Read Also | Ten best Free Football transfers of all time

3. Emmanuel Petit to Arsenal 

The then-captain of AS Monaco, Emmanuel Petit was one of the most highly demanded players in the 1997 summer transfer window. Tottenham Hotspur, the North London club was the frontrunner in the race to sign this talented midfielder. 

Petit arrived at a preliminary meeting with Alan Sugar who was the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur back then. Alan also showed him around the club's stadium. Spurs officials thought that the signing was just a matter of time. 

While leaving the club, Petit also asked the club officials to book a taxi. The bosses arranged a taxi for him thinking that he might be going back to the airport. It is rumoured that they also paid the taxi fare of £20. 

Read Also | 10 biggest and unexpected football transfers of all time

But Petit ended up at Highbury Stadium which was the then-home ground of Arsenal, the arch-rivals of Tottenham. Petit came to meet Arsenal chairman David Dean and coach Arsene Wenger. Wenger, who already knew Petit from his Monaco days, managed to convince him to sign for Arsenal and he signed for Arsenal that very afternoon. 

Petit later joked about the Tottenham officials calling a taxi for him and said, “If they want to send me the bill I am happy to pay it.”

Read Also | Top 10 most expensive transfers in the Premier League

2. David De Gea and Keylor Navas 

In 2015, Real Madrid and Manchester United penned down a swap deal agreement to swap their first-team goalkeepers. Real Madrid's goalkeeper Keylor Navas and Manchester United's keeper David de Gea were involved in the transfer as they were about to sign for United and Madrid respectively. 

Every piece of the puzzle was in the right place except a fax machine. This is one of the most popular conspiracy theories in football that Navas' documentation did not reach the club in Manchester in time on the deadline day of the transfer window and only a faulty fax machine was responsible for that! 

As none of the documents could be submitted before the specified time, the registration of both players was also not completed. In England, transfer registration could be completed up to a certain time after the transfer window is closed but Spain had no such facility. That is why Real Madrid could not go further with the documentation and the transfer was called off.

Both clubs blamed and issued conflicting statements against each other following this mishap. Navas was very disappointed about the failed transfer and later said, "I cried when the transfer window was closed, near my wife... I’m human and everything exploded. I was waiting in the airport even without suitcases. I was not on the plane, but I was near." 

1. Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain

The Brazilian phenomenon Neymar was displaying his best performances during his Barcelona tenure since he signed for them in 2013. He played a key role in winning two La Liga titles and a Champions League for the Blaugranas. Many of Barca fans started dreaming about Neymar to be Lionel Messi's successor at Barcelona. 

Read Also | Football facts: Brazil fails without Neymar!

Since the start of the 2017 transfer window, Paris Saint-Germain made significant efforts to build a strong team. No one could believe that Neymar was indeed leaving Barcelona and signing for PSG until a rumor that first surfaced on July 18, 2017, came true. The Spanish giants Real Madrid and Barcelona used to dominate the transfer market but this time, there was a drastic change that shook the entire footballing world. 

Despite having signed a contract renewal with Barcelona in November 2016, Neymar's entourage informed PSG president Nasser Al Khelaifi via a phone call that Neymar was prepared to leave Barcelona in the 2017 summer transfer window. The PSG officials also reached a personal terms agreement with Neymar through some secret meetings. 

After three weeks of prolonged negotiations with Barcelona officials, PSG paid Barcelona a transfer fee of 222 million euros to sign Neymar which holds the record of the most expensive transfer of all time to this date. 

This signing was considered one of the most shocking signings that completely changed the concept of 'cash splash' in the transfer market. The transfer initiated a trend of paying excessive sums for players that altered the business in the transfer market forever.

Managing Manchester United is not an easy job for managers worldwide. Man United have such a rich history under Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Matt Busby that the managers of this era fail to handle the pressures of Fans and Media. Nothing has gone well for the Red Devils in the last 10-11 years since the departure of their greatest manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. The board has appointed many big names to manage the team but none have shown characteristics of becoming at least 10% of Ferguson. The board has taken so many wrong decisions over the years, in terms of player signing and manager signing and those things have affected the club dearly. In this article, we'll look at every Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure.

Read Also: Top 5 Goalscorers in Football History

Every Manchester United manager since Sir Alex Ferguson's departure

David Moyes (2013-14)

The first Manchester United manager after Sir Alex was another Scottish manager, David Moyes. There were high expectations but he could not live up to them. Moyes did win a Community Shield during the season, but after a disappointing seventh place in the league and missing out on the Champions League, the board sacked him. He also failed to impress the fans as He gathered the lowest-ever points total in the Premier League as a Manchester United coach.

• Matches: 51
• Won: 27
• Lost: 15
• Drawn: 9
• Winning Percentage: 53%
• Trophies: 1 (Community Shield)

Ryan Giggs (2014)

Club legend Ryan Giggs took the job of coaching Manchester United in 2014. A year before that, Giggs had been part of Moyes’ staff as player-coach. Now, it was up to him to do the honors as interim player-coach. However, this did not last long. After four games, Giggs stated he cannot handle the pressure as Manchester United’s coach. He won two out of four matches, drew one, and lost one. He became assistant to the next manager Louis van Gaal.

• Matches: 4
• Won: 2
• Lost: 1
• Drawn: 1
• Winning Percentage: 50
• Trophies: 0

Louis van Gaal (2014-16)

Louis van Gaal was appointed next as the Manchester United coach and it was a dream come true moment for the Dutchman. After winning championships in the Netherlands, Spain, and Germany, Van Gaal wanted to win a league in England too. But it was harder than he had thought. The board spent over 200 million to bring players Louis van Gaal wanted but he did not manage to get beyond fourth place in two seasons. He managed to secure an FA Cup but got sacked right after that.

• Matches: 103
• Won: 54
• Lost: 24
• Drawn: 25
• Winning Percentage: 52
• Trophies: 1 (FA Cup)

José Mourinho (2016-18)

Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho already had a packed trophy cabinet before he joined United. The Special One’s first season as Manchester United manager was promising, with a Community Shield, a Carabao Cup, and a win in the Europa League was more than enough. United finished second in the Premier League in the 2017/18 season. According to Mourinho, this was one of the greatest achievements of his career. Mourinho's third-year stints are always poor and in December 2018, he was sacked after two and a half seasons.

• Matches: 144
• Won: 84
• Lost: 32
• Drawn: 28
• Winning Percentage: 58
• Trophies: 3 (Carabao Cup, Community Shield, Europa League)

Read Also: Most international goals among active players

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (2018-21)

The remainder of the 2018/2019 season was taken care of by caretaker manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. He was allowed to finish the year. Ole got off to a flying start to 2019/20 with a ‘Manager of the Month’ trophy and six unbeaten games. He extended the number of wins further and the fans started to believe in him.

Solskjaer got the opportunity to sign a three-year contract as Manchester United manager. He grabbed this opportunity with both hands. The team finished second in the points table but lost the Europa League Final in the 2020/21 season. He was also able to bring back Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2021/22 season but United lost many games that season and were out of the top four. He was sacked after that and Carrick took care as a caretaker manager.

• Matches: 168
• Won: 91
• Lost: 40
• Drawn: 37
• Winning Percentage: 54
• Trophies: 0

Michael Carrick (2021)

He was already assistant coach under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, from whom he took over as caretaker manager in November. This was for three games. The club found an interim manager to finish the season. 

• Matches: 3
• Won: 2
• Lost: 0
• Drawn: 1
• Winning Percentage: 38
• Trophies: 0

Ralf Rangnick (2021)

Ralf Rangnick arrived at Manchester United with a lot of noise. The plan was that he would take United to the next level with his signature game. However, this never happened. After many mixed results, Rangnick ended his time after a horrendous loss to Crystal Palace. Rangnick left the job and focused fully on managing the Austrian national team.

• Matches: 29
• Won: 11
• Lost: 8
• Drawn: 10
• Winning Percentage: 50
• Trophies: 0

Erik ten Hag (2022-Present)

Manchester United’s present manager is Erik ten Hag. The Dutchman secured a transfer to England due to his performance and way of playing football at Ajax. The pressure put on Ten Hag by the English media was huge. He had a poor start to the 2022-23 campaign but slowly it changed and United started to play good football under him. But, Ronaldo decided to give a Piers Morgan interview right before the World Cup where he exposed the Glazers and mentioned his toxic relationship with the board and Erik ten Hag. 

Ten Hag said in the press conference during his arrival at the club that He would love to play Ronaldo but decided to go against his own words which hurt the world-class striker. Ronaldo's interview spread like a fire and his fans started to abuse the manager but Ten Hag proved everyone wrong and delivered in his first season at the club.

United finished third in the points table, won the Carabao Cup, and played the Final of the FA Cup which they eventually lost to their arch-rivals Manchester City. In Europe, Ten Hag's team beat Barcelona but lost to Sevilla despite leading the tie.

The 2023-24 season started with some mixed results but soon the team fell off due to many reasons. United was hit by many injuries all over the pitch and those were some serious injuries. Sancho and Ten Hag had a fight which led the board to send the English winger back to Dortmund and the Social Media was up to blaming the Dutch tactician once again. United was a mess and Ten Hag was fighting all with no backup.

The Red Devils got knocked out of the Champions League from the group stage and the Carabao Cup. They finished eighth in the league points table, the lowest for the club in their lifetime but it was not over. Ten Hag didn't give up and in the FA Cup final, they were up against Man City once again.

This time, they took the revenge by beating them with the same scoreline and proved the doubters wrong once again that when he has his players fit, United can perform well under him. The United board hasn't taken any decisions until now whether to continue with him next season or find someone else which is going to be an exciting watch as Erik ten Hag has won two domestic titles with the club in his two seasons.

• Matches: 114
• Won: 66
• Lost: 31
• Drawn: 17
• Winning Percentage: 57
• Trophies: 2 (Carabao Cup and FA Cup)

Carlo Ancelotti broke the record for most Champions League wins. He surpassed the legendary Scottish manager Sir Alex Ferguson. Pep Guardiola is also not far behind of these two great managers. After Real Madrid's 3-0 dominating victory over Braga, Ancelotti became the manager to register 116 victories in the history of the competition. Earlier, he labelled the numbers with former Manchester United Legendary manager, Sir Alex Ferguson. SportzPoint will now look at the five managers with the most wins in the Champions League after Ancelotti's record-breaking achievement.

Also Read: Top 5 oldest Ballon d'Or winners

Managers with the most wins in the Champions League

1. Carlo Ancelotti - 116 wins

Ancelotti has won many titles in his illustrious managerial career, recording many match victories. Carlo is already the most decorated manager in the history of the Champions League, winning the trophy four times as a coach. Ancelotti won the Champions League twice with AC Milan (2003 and 2007) and two times with Real Madrid (2014 and 2022).

Carlo Ancelotti has surpassed Sir Alex Ferguson to become the manager with the 𝗠𝗢𝗦𝗧 𝗪𝗜𝗡𝗦 in the history of the 🆑 👏 pic.twitter.com/yOqJXOhLWV

— 433 (@433) November 9, 2023

He claimed his 116th win in the Champions League following Real Madrid's victory over Braga. The 64-year-old has now won more games than any other manager in the history of the European Cup and Champions League.

Ancelotti managed eight clubs in the Champions League: Parma, Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Napoli, and Real Madrid. He is the 'Record Manager'

2. Sir Alex Ferguson - 115 wins

The legendary Scottish manager had registered 115 victories as a manager in his Champions League career. He recorded five victories during his stint with Aberdeen during the 1980s.

Ferguson became famous when he joined Manchester United. He claimed 110 Champions League victories with the club, 102 of which came in the competition proper. He won the tournament twice during his time in England, leading the Red Devils to the title in 1999 and 2008.

3. Pep Guardiola - 107 wins

With Ferguson already retired, Guardiola has the best chance to break Ancelotti's record. Pep already has 107 Champions League wins to his name.

Guardiola has won the European Cup three times in managerial career. He led Barcelona to the Champions League title in 2009 and 2011. He won his third last June with Manchester City, including a historic treble.

Manchester City have already qualified for the round of 16 after winning their first four group matches in the Champions League 2023-24 season.

4. Arsene Wenger - 103 wins

Wenger is fourth on the list with 103 wins in UCL, the majority of those came during his tenure at Arsenal. He failed to win the title but the Frenchman did lead the Gunners to the 2006 Champions League final.

5. Jose Mourinho - 81 wins

Mourinho is fifth on the list, having claimed 81 Champions League wins in his career. He first showed his potential during his tenure at Porto, leading the Portuguese club to the Champions League title in 2004. He added another Champions League trophy to his collection in 2010, leading Inter Milan to the title.