UEFA Champions League Records: Most manager titles

While Carlo Ancelotti won the European Cup twice as a player, it was as a manager where he really left his mark on the competition.

Winning the UEFA Champions League would be the peak of most managers' career, and only 20 can say they've done it more than once.

José Villalonga, Luis Carniglia, Béla Guttmann, Helenio Herrera, Miguel Muñoz, Nereo Rocco. Ștefan Kovács, Dettmar Cramer, Brian Clough, Ernst Happel, Arrigo Sacchi, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Vicente del Bosque, Alex Ferguson, José Mourinho, Jupp Heynckes are the 16 names to have lifted the European Cup or UEFA Champions League twice, with just four men ahead of them...

Bob Paisley - 3 (1977, 1978, 1981)

After Bill Shankly laid the foundations at Anfield with three league titles, Bob Paisley turned Liverpool into a European powerhouse.

Liverpool would become the second English club to win the European Cup in 1977, going back-to-back the year after, with Paisley at the helm for both triumphs.

The Reds beat Real Madrid in Paris in 1981 to win a third title, with Paisley retiring from management two years later.

Zinedine Zidane - 3 (2016, 2017, 2018)

Having scored perhaps the most iconic goal in the competition's history to win the 2001 final for Real Madrid, Zinedine Zidane stepped into the dugout to create history as a manager.

Since its transition from the European Cup to the UEFA Champions League, nobody had ever defended the trophy; Zidane went one better.

Zidane was installed as Real Madrid manager partway through the 2015/16 season, yet guided Los Blancos to the UEFA Champions League, beating rivals Atletico on penalties. The season after, Real would hammer Juventus 4-1 to go back-to-back, with the hat-trick completed the following campaign, beating Liverpool 3-1 in Kyiv.

Pep Guardiola - 3 (2009, 2011, 2023)

For many years it was argued that Pep Guardiola had actually under-achieved in the UEFA Champions League. Despite domestic dominance with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, Guardiola had only won the UEFA Champions League twice, and it was often pointed out he'd never won it without Lionel Messi.

Guardiola was even accused of over-thinking crucial knockout ties, making eyebrow-raising tactical decisions that often led to surprise defeats.

But with the addition of Erling Haaland in 2022, City became a footballing machine, winning the Premier League, FA Cup and then the UEFA Champions League, completing the Treble, and securing a third European crown for Guardiola.

Carlo Ancelotti - 5 (2003, 2007, 2014, 2022, 2024)

Real Madrid and Milan are the two most successful clubs in UEFA Champions League history, with 22 trophies between them. Remarkably, Carlo Ancelotti is responsible for nearly a quarter of them, and that's ignoring the two he won as a player with Milan.

Bizarrely, despite managing Juventus, Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, Ancelotti has just six league titles to his five UEFA Champions Leagues, though it's been suggested the Italian's management style is better suited to cup competitions, perhaps explaining his success in Europe.

With Filippo Inzaghi and Andriy Shevchenko leading the line and a midfield of Andrea Pirlo, Gennaro Gattuso, Clarence Seedorf and Rui Costa, Milan would beat Juventus at Old Trafford on penalties in 2003.

The Rossoneri should have won the UEFA Champions League two years later when leading 3-0 against Liverpool in 2005, only to be pegged back, losing on penalties. Milan would get revenge in 2007, though, beating Liverpool 2-0.

Six years later, Ancelotti would embark on a Spanish adventure, delivering La Decima in his first campaign. After being sacked just 12 months later, Ancelotti returned in 2021, winning two more finals in 2022 and 2024.