Josep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola

Personal information
Full name	Josep Guardiola i Sala
Date of birth	18 January 1971 (1971-01-18) (age 40)
Place of birth	Santpedor, Spain
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club	Barcelona (Manager)
Youth career
	Gimnàstic Manresa
1984–1990	Barcelona
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1990–1992	Barcelona B	59	(5)
1990–2001	Barcelona	263	(6)
2001–2002	Brescia	11	(2)
2002–2003	Roma	4	(0)
2003	Brescia	13	(1)
2003–2005	Al-Ahli	18	(2)
2005–2006	Sinaloa	10	(1)
Total		378	(17)
National team
1991–1992	Spain U21	2	(0)
1992–2001	Spain	47	(5)
1995–2005	Catalonia	7	(0)
Teams managed
2007–2008	Barcelona B
2008–	Barcelona
Honours Men's Football Competitor for  Spain Gold 1992 Barcelona Team Competition
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals).

Josep "Pep" Guardiola i Sala (Catalan pronunciation: [ʒuˈzɛp ɡwəɾðiˈɔɫə]; born 18 January 1971 in Santpedor, Barcelona, Catalonia), is a Spanish football manager and former player. Guardiola played as a defensive midfielder and spent the majority of his playing career with FC Barcelona, whom he currently manages. He was part of Johan Cruyff's dream team that won Barcelona's first European Cup. Guardiola also played for Brescia Calcio, A.S. Roma, Al-Ahli and Dorados de Sinaloa. As an international, he played for Spain and some friendly exhibition games for Catalonia.

After retiring as a player, Guardiola became coach of FC Barcelona B. On 8 May 2008, Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced that Guardiola would succeed Frank Rijkaard as the first team manager. He signed his contract on 5 June 2008.^[1] In his first season as manager, Barcelona won the treble of La Liga, the Copa del Rey and the Champions League. In doing so, Guardiola became the youngest UEFA Champions League winning manager ever. The following season, Guardiola and Barcelona won the Supercopa de España against Athletic Club Bilbao, the UEFA Super Cup against Shakhtar Donetsk, and the FIFA Club World Cup against Estudiantes, bringing the manager's tally to the maximum of six trophies in six competitions in one year, thus completing the first ever sextuple.

Club career

Barcelona

Guardiola joined La Masia at the age of 13 and rose through the ranks at the youth academy of Barcelona for six years, making his début in 1990 against Cádiz. As Phil Ball writes in Morbo,

"In his first week at the club, Cruyff turned up unannounced at the 'Mini' stadium, a venue just down the road from Camp Nou used by the youth and B teams. Just before half-time he wandered into the dug-out and asked Charly Rexach, the youth team manager at the time, the name of the young skinny lad playing on the right side of midfield. 'Guardiola – good lad' came the reply. Cruyff ignored the comment and told Rexach to move him into the middle for the second half, to play as pivote, a difficult position to adapt to and one not used by many teams in Spain at the time. 'Pep' Guardiola adjusted immediately, as Cruyff had suspected he would, and when he moved up into the first-team in 1990 he became the true fulcrum of the Dream Team."^[2]

Johan Cruyff utilised the young defensive midfielder in the absence of the suspended Guillermo Amor. He became a first team regular in the 1991–92 season and at only 20 years old was a key component of a side that won La Liga, the European Cup and the Spain national side that triumphed at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. The prestigious Italian magazine Guerin Sportivo heralded Guardiola as the finest player in the world under the age of 21.

Cruyff's Dream Team went on to retain the La Liga title in the 92–93 and 93–94 seasons. The side was strengthened by the recent signing of Romário, again reached the UEFA Champions League Final, but were humbled by Capello's Milan in Athens, and lost the match 0–4.

Cruyff left in 1996, with Barcelona finishing 4th in the 1994–95 season and 3rd in the 1995–96 season, but Guardiola retained his position at the center of Barcelona's midfield. In the 1996–97 season, Barcelona, this time led by Bobby Robson, won three cups – the Copa del Rey, the UEFA Super Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup. Much of the Dream Team had by this time left, with new signings such as Luís Figo and Ronaldo taking over from Hristo Stoichkov and Txiki Begiristain. At the end of the 1996–97 season, Barcelona rejected offers from Roma and Parma (of around 300 million pesetas) for Guardiola. After prolonged and complicated contract talks, Guardiola signed a new contract with the Catalan club which extended his stay until 2001. His buyout clause was fixed at 15.000 million pesetas, the second highest in the Spanish league.

A calf muscle injury ruled Guardiola out of most of the 1997–98 season, in which Barcelona won a league and cup double under new manager Louis van Gaal. He returned to action the following season and Barcelona once again won the league thanks largely to the performances of Rivaldo and Figo. On 8 June 1998, Guardiola underwent surgery to try to solve once and for all the problems that he was experiencing with his calf which had led to him missing the 1998 FIFA World Cup for Spain. A largely disappointing 1999–00 season ended once again in surgery as Guardiola missed the last three months of the season due to a serious ankle injury.

Barcelona didn't win any silverware during the 2001 season and finished fourth place in the league, but qualifying for the Champions League. On 11 April 2001, Barcelona's captain announced his intention to leave the club after 17 years of service. He stated that it was a personal decision and, in part, a response to what he perceived as football heading in a new, more physical, direction. On 24 June 2001, Guardiola played his last match with Barça in the last game of the season against Celtic.

Guardiola played 479 games for the club, in 12 seasons in the Barcelona first team, winning 16 trophies. At the press conference after the Celtic game, he said: "It's been a long journey. I'm happy, proud, happy with the way people treated me and I have made many friends. I cannot ask for more. I have had many years in the elite. I did not come to make history but to make my own history." Guardiola was slow, but intelligently gifted with skill and foresight, rarely scored goals but set up from difficult positions on the field, he won six league titles, a European Cup and Olympic gold, amongst other numerous trophies. Born in the Catalan town of Santpedor, schooled barely 100 metres from Camp Nou and resident at La Masia, the traditional farmhouse that stands incongruously in its shadow, he was a part of a gifted side Barcelona produced, ordering, constructing, constantly moving the ball. He has been called the hero of a number of Spain's current midfielders, as Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta and Cesc Fàbregas have all stated that Guardiola was their role model and hero.^[3]

Serie A

After leaving Barcelona in 2001 at the age of 30, he was linked with several clubs such as Newcastle United, Manchester United, West Ham United, Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool, plus both Milanese clubs of Milan and Internazionale. But Guardiola joined Italian side Brescia Calcio and then Roma in the Italian Serie A. However, his time in Italy was unhappy and included a four month ban after testing positive for Nandrolone. Six years later, on 23 October 2007, Guardiola was cleared on appeal of all charges that had led to the ban.^[4] However, CONI reopened the cause against the player, because it considered the argumentation of the absolution unacceptable^[5], but he was cleared once again on 29 September 2009.^[6] His time in Italy was not nearly as successful as his career at Barcelona. He played a number of Coppa Italia games and UEFA Champions League games, finishing with a rather unhappy 71 games in Italy.

Al-Ahli

After his career with Brescia and Roma, at 34 years of age he chose to play in Qatar with Al-Ahli from Doha in the Qatar Stars League, where many fellow greats were playing, such as Gabriel Batistuta. He had rejected another offer from Manchester United, as he wanted to play elsewhere. He became a regular in the Qatar Stars League, often cited as one of the best players in the League. In 2005–06, he turned down offers from a number European sides, such as Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea, as he felt his playing career was coming to a close.^[7]

Dorados de Sinaloa

In 2006 when Juan Manuel Lillo was appointed manager of Mexican club Dorados de Sinaloa, he recruited Guardiola to play for the club, while he was in managing school in Axocopan, Atlixco, Puebla. He subsequently played for six months, before retiring definitively.

International career

Spain

Guardiola made his senior debut on 14 October 1992 in 0–0 draw with Northern Ireland at Windsor Park in a World Cup qualifier. In the same year, Guardiola captained Spain when they won a gold medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games. It was in this year when he won the Bravo Award, voted to be the world's best player under the age of 21. Between 1992 and 2001, Guardiola was a regular midfield maestro, playing over 47 times and scoring five goals for the senior Spain team, becoming a Spanish midfield player. He was a member of the Spain team during the 1994 World Cup, where he followed Spain to the quarter-finals, losing to Italy 2–1. He fell out of favour with Javier Clemente, the Spain manager, due to difference and disagreement between the two, and missed out on Euro 1996. He suffered a career-threatening injury in 1998, which kept him out of the 1998 World Cup, but he later played at Euro 2000, where he lead Spain to yeter another quarter-final appearance, this time losing to France by the same margin, 2–1. He lead the Spain midfield until his final appearance for Spain, in 1–0 win in a friendly against Mexico on 14 November 2001, and scoring his last international goal against Sweden in a 1–1 draw, in his 45 appearance.^[8][9]

Catalonia

Guardiola has also played for and been a strong advocate of the Catalonia national football team, as well as of the independence of Catalonia itself.^[10] Between 1995 and 2005, he played seven friendly games for the national team of Catalonia, which does not compete in FIFA competitions, against, among others, Nigeria.^[11]

Coaching career

Barcelona B

Guardiola was appointed coach of FC Barcelona B on 21 June 2007 with Francesc Vilanova his assistant. Under his guidance, the team subsequently won their Tercera División group and qualified for the 2008 Segunda División B playoffs.^[12] Barcelona president Joan Laporta announced before the end of the 2007–08 season that Josep Guardiola would be appointed manager of FC Barcelona to replace Frank Rijkaard at the end of the season.^[13]

Barcelona

Guardiola in 2009

Upon being appointed Guardiola revealed that Ronaldinho, Deco, Samuel Eto'o and others were not part of his plans for next season. By the time of the announcement, Guardiola had already offloaded full back Gianluca Zambrotta to Milan, attacking midfielder Giovani dos Santos to Tottenham Hotspur, and midfielder Edmílson to Villarreal.^[14] Deco went to Chelsea, while the iconic Ronaldinho joined Gianluca Zambrotta in Milan. Lilian Thuram was initially going to join Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer but the discovery of a heart condition put a stop to the move, and the veteran retired to tend to his health. Oleguer Presas signed with Ajax, Santiago Ezquerro was released by Barça and Marc Crosas was sold to Celtic. The fate of Samuel Eto'o took much of the summer to unravel, with the Cameroonian linked with several clubs, but Guardiola finally declared that he would stay after his dedication in training and participation in the pre-season.^[15]

In association with Barça's director of sport, Txiki Begiristain, several new signings were made by Guardiola: Dani Alves and Seydou Keita arrived from Sevilla, Martín Cáceres from Villarreal by way of Recreativo, Gerard Piqué returned from Manchester United, and Aliaksandr Hleb was signed from Arsenal. Henrique was also signed from Palmeiras, but was immediately loaned out to Bayer Leverkusen.^[16] In interviews with the press, Guardiola stressed a harder work ethic than before, but also a more personal approach during training and a closer relationship with his players. Along with the new signings, Guardiola promoted some canteranos Sergio Busquets, Pedro and Jeffrén Suárez to the first team squad. His influences as a coach include mostly Johan Cruyff, but also Louis van Gaal, José Antonio Camacho and Fabio Capello.

Guardiola's first competitive game as coach was in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, in which Barça comfortably beat Polish club Wisła Kraków 4–0 at home. They then lost 1–0 in Kraków, but progressed with a 4–1 aggregate victory. Promoted Numancia also defeated Barcelona in the opening match-day of the La Liga, but the team then went on an undefeated streak for over 20 matches to move to the top of the league. Barça maintained their spot atop La Liga's table, securing their first league title since 2006 when rivals Real Madrid lost at Villareal on May 16, 2009. The most important match however was on May 2 when they defeated Real Madrid 6–2 at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Josep Guardiola celebrating Barcelona's 2009 UEFA Champions League Final with Manuel Estiarte

The league title was the second piece of silverware in Guardiola's first season at the Camp Nou. On May 13, 2009, Barcelona won the Copa del Rey, defeating Athletic Bilbao 4–1.

Guardiola finished the season by leading Barça to the final of the Champions League, where they beat Manchester United 2–0. In doing so, they became the first Spanish club to win the domestic cup, league, and European club titles (the treble) in the same season. Furthermore, Guardiola became the youngest coach ever to coach a Champions League winning team.

Under Guardiola, Barcelona played brilliant football throughout the season and thrashed many important Spanish and European teams at Camp Nou: Atlético Madrid 6–1, Deportivo de La Coruña 5–0, Valencia, Sevilla and Bayern Munich 4–0, and Olympique Lyonnais 5–2.

During his second season as manager Barcelona traded Samuel Eto'o and €49M for Zlatan Ibrahimović. The club also signed Maxwell from Inter and Dmytro Chygrynskiy from Shakhtar Donetsk. Many players left the club on the same transfer window; Eiður Guðjohnsen was sold to Monaco, Sylvinho and Albert Jorquera contracts ended and other players where loaned out, including Aliaksandr Hleb to Stuttgart, Martín Cáceres to Juventus, Alberto Botía to Sporting de Gijón and Víctor Sánchez to Xerez.

Barcelona started the season defeating Athletic Bilbao on the Spanish Super Cup and Shakhtar Donetsk on the European Super Cup. On September 25, 2009, Barcelona gave Guardiola his 50th professional victory, away against Málaga and on December 19 they where crowned Club World Cup champions for the first time in their history. Guardiola finished the calendar year 2009 with a record 6 trophies – the Spanish League, Copa del Rey, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, European Super Cup, and Club World Cup – becoming the first manager in history to do so.

After winning every trophy they played on 2009 on January 2010 Guardiola suffered his first elimination as coach against Sevilla on the Copa del Rey, but he also became Barcelona's longest serving Spanish coach, overtaking the record previously held by Josep Samitier. That same month, on the twentieth, he agreed to a one-year contract extension to keep him with Barcelona until the end of the 2010–11 season.^[17] February of the same year saw Guardiola coach his one hundredth match for Barcelona's first team. His record stood at 71 wins, 19 draws and 10 losses with 242 goals for and 76 against.^[18] On April 10, 2010, he became the first manager in Barcelona's history to beat Real Madrid four times in a row in El Clásico.

Barcelona reached the semi-finals of the 2009–10 Champions League, but lost 3–2 on aggregate to Inter. Despite this they managed to win their 20th La Liga title with a European record of 99 points by beating Real Valladolid 4–0 at home. He also became Barcelona's second manager with most trophies – 7 – after Johan Cruyff (11) and tied with Ferdinand Daučík.

On 8 June 2010, the Royal Spanish Football Federation sanctioned Guardiola €15,000, following a formal inquiry opened by the Competition Committee regarding his actions and comments during and after a match against Almeria on 6 March 2010.^[19] Guardiola approached the fourth official with, according to the official report, malicious intent, berating the official and speaking into his microphone with phrases such as, "You are calling everything wrong." Following the match, Guardiola accused Carlos Clos Gomez and his assistant Jose Luis Gallego Galdino of "lying" in their match report. Barcelona were given 10 days to appeal the sanction.

His third season in charge saw the departure of two players who had arrived last season, Dmytro Chygrynskiy returned to Shakhtar Donetsk and Zlatan Ibrahimović moved to Milan. Rafael Márquez and Thierry Henry where released from their contracts and moved to New York Red Bulls, Yaya Touré also left the team and moved to Manchester City. The club signed Adriano from Sevilla, David Villa from Valencia and Javier Mascherano from Liverpool.

On 14 July 2010, Guardiola signed a new contract to stay with Barcelona until June 2011.^[20] On August 21, he won a second consecutive Spanish Super Cup in an exciting duel with Sevilla which ended 5-3 on aggregate.

Coaching stats

As of August 29, 2010

Private life

Guardiola at Camp Nou

Pep Guardiola was born in Santpedor, to Dolors and Valentí. He has two older sisters, Francesca and Olga, and younger brother, Pere.^[21] Guardiola is married to Cristina Serra, whom he met the first time in a clothing store when he was 18. The couple have three children: Maria (born 28 December 2000), Màrius (born 2003) and Valentina (born 5 May 2008).

He is a close friend of water polo great Manuel Estiarte, whom he has known since 1992. His close friends also include Luís Figo, Luis Enrique, Tito Vilanova and Johan Cruyff.

Honours

Player

Barcelona

• La Liga (6): 1990–91, 1991–92, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1997–98, 1998–99
• Copa del Rey (2): 1996–97, 1997–98
• Supercopa de España (4): 1991, 1992, 1994, 1996
• UEFA Champions League (1): 1991–92
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup (1): 1996–97
• UEFA Super Cup (2): 1992, 1997

Spain

• Olympic Gold Medal: 1992

Individual

• Bravo Award: 1992
• UEFA Euro Team of the Tournament: 1992, 2000
• Olympics Spain Best Player: 1992

Manager

Barcelona B

• Tercera División: 2007–08

Barcelona

• La Liga (2): 2008–09, 2009–10
• Copa del Rey (1): 2008–09
• Supercopa de España (2): 2009, 2010
• UEFA Champions League (1): 2008–09
• UEFA Super Cup (1): 2009
• FIFA Club World Cup (1): 2009

Individual

• IFFHS World's Best Club Coach of the Year (1): 2009
• Don Balon Award for Best Coach of the Year (2): 2009, 2010
• Onze d'Or for Best European Coach (1): 2009
• Miguel Muñoz Trophy for Best Coach of the Year (2): 2009, 2010
• World Soccer Magazine World Manager of the Year (1): 2009
• UEFA Team of the Year Best Coach (1): 2009
• LFP Award for Best Coach of the Year (1): 2009
• Catalan of the Year Award (1): 2009

Career statistics

Bibliography

• (Catalan) Josep Guardiola, La meva gent, el meu futbol, with Miguel Rico and Luís Martín, Edecasa (Grupo Z), Colección Sport, 2001
• (Spanish) Jaume Collell, Pep Guardiola: de Santpedor al banquillo del Barça, Península, 2009
• (Catalan) Josep Riera Font, Escoltant Guardiola: el pensament futbolistic i vital de l'entrenador del Barça en 150 frases, Cossetania, 2009
• (Catalan) Several authors, Paraula de Pep, Ara Llibres, 2009
• (Spanish) Several authors, Barça de las 6 Copas, Edecasa (Grupo Z), Colección Sport, 2009

See also

• List of sportspeople cleared of doping charges
• List of European Cup and UEFA Champions League winning managers

Notes

References

External links

• BDFutbol player profile
• BDFutbol coach profile
• National team data (Spanish)
• NationalFootballTeams data
• Josep Guardiola - FIFA competition record
• Interview at www.time.com
• http://www.fcbarcelona.cat/web/english/club/historia/jugadors_de_llegenda/guardiola.html

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Alex Ferguson Manchester United	UEFA Champions League winning manager Barcelona 2008–2009	Succeeded by José Mourinho Internazionale
	European Treble winning manager Barcelona 2008–2009
Preceded by Dick Advocaat Zenit Saint Petersburg	UEFA Super Cup winning manager Barcelona 2009	Succeeded by Most Recent
Sporting positions
Preceded by Gheorghe Popescu	FC Barcelona captain 1997–2001	Succeeded by Sergi Barjuán

Josep Guardiola – Navigation boxes Spain squad – 1992 Summer Olympics Gold Medalists 1 Cañizares • 2 Ferrer • 3 Lasa • 4 Solozábal • 5 López • 6 Villabona • 7 Amavisca • 8 Luis Enrique • 9 Guardiola • 10 Abelardo • 11 Manjarín • 12 Paqui • 13 Toni • 14 Vidal • 15 Soler • 16 Miguel • 17 Berges • 18 Pinilla • 19 Kiko • 20 Alfonso • Coach: Miera Spain squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Zubizarreta (c) • 2 Ferrer • 3 Otero • 4 Camarasa • 5 Abelardo • 6 Hierro • 7 Goikoetxea • 8 Guerrero • 9 Guardiola • 10 Bakero • 11 Begiristain • 12 Sergi • 13 Cañizares • 14 Juanele • 15 Caminero • 16 Miñambres • 17 Voro • 18 Alkorta • 19 Salinas • 20 Nadal • 21 Luis Enrique • 22 Lopetegui • Coach: Clemente Spain squad – UEFA Euro 2000 1 Cañizares • 2 Salgado • 3 Aranzábal • 4 Guardiola • 5 Abelardo • 6 Hierro (c) • 7 Helguera • 8 Fran • 9 Munitis • 10 Raúl • 11 Alfonso • 12 Sergi • 13 Casillas • 14 Gerard • 15 Engonga • 16 Mendieta • 17 Etxeberria • 18 Paco • 19 Velasco • 20 Urzaiz • 21 Valerón • 22 Molina • Coach: Camacho FC Barcelona B – Managers Seguer (1970–72) · Aloy (1972–76) · Ruiz (1976–78) · Torres (1978–79) · Segarra (1979–80) · Torres (1980) · Olivé (1980) · Torres (1980–83) · Romero (1983–84) · Vilaseca (1984–87) · Pujol (1987–89) · Costas (1989–96) · Ramos (1996–97) · Gonzalvo (1997–2001) · Costas (2001–03) · Gratacós (2003–05) · Costas (2005–07) · Guardiola (2007–08) · Luis Enrique (2008–) FC Barcelona – Managers Barrow (1917) · Greenwell (1917–24) · Poszony (1924) · Kirby (1924–26) · Domby (1926–27) · Forns (1927–29) · Bellamy (1929–31) · Greenwell (1931–33) · Domby (1933–34) · Plattkó (1934–35) · O'Connell (1935–40) · Planas (1940–41) · Guzmán (1941–42) · Nogués (1942–44) · Samitier (1944–47) · Fernández (1947–50) · Daučík (1950–54) · Puppo (1954–55) · Plattkó (1955–56) · Balmanya (1956–58) · Herrera (1958–60) · Broćić (1960–61) · Orizaola (1961) · Miró (1961) · Kubala (1961–63) · Gonzalvo (1963) · C.Rodríguez (1963–64) · Sasot (1964–65) · Olsen (1965–67) · Artigas (1967–69) · Seguer (1969) · Buckingham (1969–71) · Michels (1971–75) · Weisweiler (1975–76) · Ruiz (1976) · Michels (1976–78) · Muller (1978–79) · Rifé (1979–80) · Herrera (1980) · Kubala (1980) · Herrera (1980–81) · Lattek (1981–83) · Romero (1983) · Menotti (1983–84) · Venables (1984–87) · Aragonés (1987–88) · Cruijff (1988–91) · Rexach (1991) · Cruijff (1991–96) · Robson (1996–97) · van Gaal (1997–2000) · Serra Ferrer (2000–01) · Rexach (2001–02) · van Gaal (2002–03) · De la Cruz (2003) · Antić (2003) · Rijkaard (2003–08) · Guardiola (2008–) La Liga Coach of the Year - Don Balón Award 1976: Miljanić · 1977: Aragonés · 1978: Molowny · 1979: Molowny · 1980: Molowny · 1981: Ormaetxea · 1982: Ormaetxea · 1983: Clemente · 1984: Clemente · 1985: Venables · 1986: Molowny · 1987: Clemente · 1988: Beenhakker · 1989: Toshack · 1990: Toshack · 1991: Cruyff · 1992: Cruyff · 1993: Iglesias · 1994: Fernández · 1995: Iglesias · 1996: Antić · 1997: Cantatore · 1998: Irureta · 1999: Cúper · 2000: Irureta · 2001: Mané · 2002: Benítez · 2003: Denoueix · 2004: Irureta · 2005: Rijkaard · 2006: Rijkaard · 2007: Ramos · 2008: Manzano · 2009: Guardiola · 2010: Guardiola Bravo Award 1978: Case | 1979: Birtles | 1980: Müller | 1981: Wark | 1982: Shaw | 1983: Bonini | 1984: Righetti | 1985: Butragueño | 1986: Butragueño | 1987: van Basten | 1988: Ohana | 1989: Maldini | 1990: Baggio | 1991: Prosinečki | 1992: Guardiola | 1993: Giggs | 1994: Panucci | 1995: Kluivert | 1996: Del Piero | 1997: Ronaldo | 1998: Ronaldo | 1999: Buffon | 2000: Casillas | 2001: Hargreaves | 2002: Metzelder | 2003: Rooney | 2004: C.Ronaldo | 2005: Robben | 2006: Fàbregas | 2007: Messi | 2008: Benzema | 2009: Busquets La Liga Managers Camacho (CA Osasuna) · Caparrós (Athletic) · Emery (Valencia) · Esteban (Hércules) · Ferreira (Málaga) · García Plaza (Levante) · Garrido (Villarreal) · Aguirre (Zaragoza) · Guardiola (Barcelona) · Manzano (Sevilla) · Lasarte (Real Sociedad) · Laudrup (Mallorca) · Lillo (Almería) · Lotina (Deportivo) · Míchel (Getafe) · Mourinho (Real Madrid) · Pochettino (Espanyol) · Portugal (Racing) · Preciado (Sporting) · Sánchez Flores (Atlético)