The manager who has won the most trophies in the history of football!
7. Jock Stein
26 trophies
Scottish coach Jock Stein's coaching career began with the Celtic development team, with young players such as Billy McNeil, Bobby Murdoch and John Clark breaking into the first team through the development squad and subsequently becoming homegrown first-team heroes. In fact, he won his first trophy while in charge of the reserves, beating Rangers 8-2 on aggregate in the Reserve Cup, which of course was not included.
Jock Stein moved to Dunfermline in 1960 and spent four years with the club, eventually winning the Scottish Cup and making several European appearances. He then moved to Hibernian for a year before moving to Celtic in March 1965 while managing the Scottish national team part-time from May to December of the same year.
The Celtics are where Jock Stein won all but one of the trophies. He had a significant impact on the fortunes and performances of Dunfermline and Hibernian, but it was the strength of Celtic and Jock Stein's ability to coach that could not be reckoned with in Scottish and European football. Their first trophy was the 1965 Scottish Cup, where they won against Dunfermline (who beat Hibernian in the other semi-final). The following season, Celtic won more trophies and won the treble in 1966-67, becoming the first English team to do so.
Jock Stein's Celtic have won 10 league titles, nine of which have been back-to-back. They have also won eight Scottish Cups, six Scottish League Cups and one Champions League.
6. Scolari
26 trophies
Scolari is undoubtedly a well-traveled man. He began his early coaching career in Brazil, where he briefly spent time in Saudi Arabia before winning his first trophy with Gremio in 1987. Campeonato Gaúcho is the highest league in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, having won the league three times.
He then traveled to Kuwait and won the Kuwait Emir Cup with Qadizya before returning to Brazil. After a strange incident in which he abandoned Coritiba after three defeats by boarding the bus of the winning team, he returned to Gremio and won more state titles, national titles, Copa do Brasil and Copa Libertadores. In the late 90s and late 2010s, he won quite a few trophies during his two spells in charge of Palmeiras. In 2009, he won the Uzbek league title with Benyudko and enjoyed great success in three years at the helm of Chinese Super League side Guangzhou Evergrande.
He is probably most familiar to most fans of his time as Chelsea manager and manager of the Brazilian and Portuguese national teams. In 2001, he took over when Brazil could miss out on the World Cup and led them to the World Cup final, beating Germany 2-0 thanks to two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo. During his tenure as head coach of Portugal, Portugal reached the final of Euro 2004 and the semi-finals of the 2006 World Cup, but did not win any trophies. He returned to Brazil in 2012, where the team won the 2013 Confederations Cup. At the 2014 World Cup, he led the team to the semi-finals of the World Cup, but was beaten 7-1 by Germany in the semi-finals, and then lost 3-0 to the Netherlands in the third-place match, and Scolari resigned as Brazil manager after the World Cup.
5. Jose Mourinho
26 trophies
Jose Mourinho is one of the best managers of the modern era, having achieved success with almost every team he has taken over. Starting as an assistant coach under Bobby Robson, Mourinho made major breakthroughs at Benfica and Relia. He then moved to Porto, where his legend really began. He immediately turned Porto's fortunes around, winning the Europa League in his first full season in Porto. In the 2003-04 season, he led Porto to a miraculous Champions League title, creating a legend.
He then moved to Chelsea, which became a big money club under Roman Abramovich. He won the Carabao Cup and the Premier League in his first season in charge of Chelsea, winning the title with the most points (95) and the fewest goals conceded (15) at the time. He switched to Inter Milan in 2008 and won the Serie A title in 2009, a year later to make it a historic treble.
His performances at Real Madrid were explosive, winning La Liga in 2011-12 while breaking the La Liga record held by Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova. He then returned to Chelsea, where he won the Premier League and Carabao Cup, before winning three trophies in 2016/17 amid the ups and downs of Manchester United. During his time at Tottenham, he achieved nothing and it was only in 2022 that he won the UEFA Europa League with Roma.
4. Valery Lobanovsky
30 trophies
In the 70s and 80s of the 20th century, Valery Lobanovsky was the head coach of Dynamo Kiev, one of the most successful teams in the history of the Soviet Union. Under his leadership, Dynamo Kiev won 8 Soviet top league titles and 6 Soviet Cup titles. Dynamo Kyiv has also enjoyed success on the European continent's stage, winning the European Cup Winners' Cup twice and beating Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup.
Lobanovsky was also the head coach of the Soviet national team, and in 1988 they narrowly missed the European Championship final. However, Van Basten's iconic goal for the Netherlands dashed their dream of winning the title. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Lobanovsky built Dynamo Kyiv into the supremacy of Ukraine, winning five consecutive national league titles and three Ukrainian cups.
3. Mircea Lucescu
38 trophies
Lucescu has won trophies in Romania, Turkey, Ukraine and Italy. He began his coaching career in his native Romania, winning two Romanian Cups and a league title with Dinamo Bucharest. His most successful period was in charge of Shakhtar Donetsk, where he built the team into one of the greatest teams in Ukrainian history. They became the overlords of Ukraine, winning eight Ukrainian Premier League titles, six Ukrainian Cup titles, and seven Ukrainian Super Cups. In addition, they have enjoyed success on the European stage, winning the Europa League 2009 against Werder Bremen.
During his tenure at Zenit St. Petersburg, he won the Russian Cup, after which he was ill-fated and achieved nothing during his tenure in Turkey. He returned to Ukraine to coach Shakhtar Donetsk's biggest rivals, Dynamo Kyiv, winning the domestic treble in his first season in charge.
2. Pep Guardiola
38 trophies
Pep Guardiola is perhaps the greatest manager of all time, and if he isn't, he is certainly on his way to becoming the greatest manager given the number of trophies he's won. It's absolutely unbelievable to have 38 trophies to himself at a time when he's not even close to retirement. The 53-year-old has plenty of time to catch up with the number one spot on this list.
He managed Barcelona B for just one year before taking control of Barcelona's first team, which is proof enough that he was a great coach at the beginning of his career. He won the treble in his first year in charge and completed the first six crowns in football history at the end of 2009. At the end of his tenure at Barcelona, he won 14 trophies and became the most successful manager in Barcelona's history, despite his tenure with the team of only four years.
After a year-long sabbatical, he joined Bayern Munich and achieved great results. He soon won the Bundesliga and the German Cup, but it was with this German side that his quest to win the Champions League for a third time began to haunt him, as Bayern fell on the stage in the semi-finals during his three seasons in charge.
However, his move to Manchester City has given him a step further in the game, as he has become the dominant force in English football over the past eight years. They have won five Premier League titles, four League Cups, two FA Cups, two FA Community Shields and beat Inter Milan in Istanbul in 2023 to end Pep Guardiola's quest for a third Champions League trophy.
1. Ferguson
49 trophies
The debate over who is the greatest manager of all time could go on until the end of the world. But Ferguson's quality is undeniable, as the number of trophies he has won for the team is simply incredible.
He began his managerial career at St Mirren, where he won the Scottish Football League One (second division) title in 1977. In 1978 he became Aberdeen manager and won the Scottish Premiership in his second season. During his time at Aberdeen, he won two more league titles and four Scottish Cups. His most famous victory was the 1983 European Cup Winners' Cup with his side over Real Madrid.
In 1986 he moved to Manchester United, where his saga at the Red Devils made him an absolute legend. His first years at United are notoriously unsuccessful, but from 1990 to 2013 he helped the Reds win 38 trophies, an average of nearly two per season.
Manchester United dominated the Premier League for the first twenty-five years and won the FA Cup, League Cup and Community Shield on several occasions. They have also been successful on the European stage, winning the Champions League twice. Alex Ferguson built Manchester United into the biggest team in the world at his peak, and his legacy lives on forever.