Barcelona managers history

is a famous professional football club based in Barcelona, Spain. It is the second most successful club in the history of Spanish football and one of the most prestigious ones in the history of the game.

Barcelona is the only club in the history of football who has won six out of six possible titles in a year, a feat they achieved under Pep Guardiola in the 2008. His compatriot, Luis Enrique came close to do it again in the 2014-15 season, but was stopped at the sixth one.

Despite Guardiola's record-breaking stats, the famous Dutch legend, Johan Cruyff is regarded as the most influential manager in the history of the club. Not only he won a total of 11 titles, but also gave Barcelona a new identity and a revolutionary playing system.

The Catalans also had a glorious spell under their founder, Juan Gamper who in the first two decades of the club's life, was active both as the director and the manager. Ferdinand Daucik also wrote his name in Barcelona's history books by guiding them into new heights during the 1950's.

Throughout its 132 years history, Barcelona has had many top managers At the bench. While they are one of the most successful clubs in the history of football, many of their coaches left their job with no notable achievement, as the blaugrana also had some dry spells throughout their history. 25 out of 57 managers failed to win any trophies at the club, with the likes of Gerardo Tata Martino and Quique Setien the most recent of them.

In the following article we will first have a look at the worst and best of them, before concluding the article with the most interesting statistical data and a complete list of

Barcelona coaches history.

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Everything you would like to know about Barcelona managers history

We will present a countdown to the best and worst Barcelona managers of all time before having a look at the most interesting statistical data.

Best Barcelona managers of all time

In this part of the article we will have a look at the Best Barcelona managers of all time including their four most successful coaches Pep Guardiola, Johan Cruyff, Ferdinand Daucik and Luis Enrique.

Frank Reijkaard

Frank Reijkaard is definitely one of the best ones in the list of

Barcelona managers history

. He was appointed in 2003 and continued to manage the Catalans for the next five seasons. Reijkaard era at Barcelona was a very successful one as he guided the Basque side to domestic and European glory.

In total, Reijkaard won 5 major titles at Barcelona, most important of them were two La Liga titles and one UEFA Champions League trophy. The Dutch coach is the fifth most successful manager in the history of Barcelona. Before, Reijkaard, Barcelona was experiencing a four-season dry spell, in which they failed to win any trophies. It all changed with Reijkaard as his Barcelona side combined beautiful football and results, humiliating

twice at the Santiago Bernabeu and winning the second UCL title in the history of the club.

Ronaldinho, Deco and Samuel Eto'o were Barcelona's biggest stars during Reijkaard era, which also coincided with the emergence of the teenage Lionel Messi and paved the way for the golden generation of La Masia who went on to dominate the world football under Pep Guardiola.

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Luis Enrique

As a player, Luis Enrique had the rare experience of playing at both Barcelona and Real Madrid. As a coach However, He is regarded as one of the best in Barcelona managers history.

Before appointing Enrique, Barcelona was in the danger of a crisis after the departure of Pep Guardiola and the death of his successor, Tito Vilanova. Tata Martino was his predecessor and failed to get the club back to the heights it enjoyed under Guardiola.

Luis Enrique was appointed as Barcelona manager in 2014 and stayed at the club until 2017. Under his guidance Barcelona once again became one of the most feared teams in the world. Enrique won a total of 9 titles including 2 La Liga, 3 Copa del Rey and one Champions League titles. He is the fourth successful manager in the history of the club.

While Pep Guardiola built his team around his brilliance of midfield due,

and Xavi, Enrique shifted the focus of Barcelona's playing system to the fearsome offensive trio, Neymar, Messi and Luis Suarez, who had a telepathic relationship with each other. He came one title short of Guardiola's record of six out of six titles in the 2014-15 season. Enrique left the club at the end of the 2016-17 season as Barcelona ended their campaign with only one Copa del Rey title.

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Ferdinand Daucik

The Slovak former manager guided many La Liga teams but His most successful periods were with Barcelona and

. Daucik he was appointed as the new Barcelona coach in 1950 after 12 years of working in Eastern Europe,

Daucik managed Barcelona for four seasons, which was one of the clubs most successful periods in their history. He was the manager of the Barcelona team which won five out of five trophies in 1951-52 season.

Daucik won La Liga two consecutive times and coaches a team boasted by the likes of Kubala, Antoni Ramallets and Joan Segarra. He left Barcelona in 1954 after getting into a fight with the team's star players.

In total Ferdinand Daucik managed more than 20 teams in his 34 years career as a manager, but he will be most remembered for his glorious spell with Barcelona, in which he won a total of 8 major titles including two La Liga and three Copa del Rey titles. He is the fifth most successful manager in the history of Barcelona.

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Johan Cruyff

Johan Cruyff is regarded by many as the most influential figure in Barcelona managers history. Such was his impact on the Catalan's future that he has been used as a reference point for every Barcelona manager since his retirement.

 Cruyff first dazzled the Camp Nue as a player in the 1970s and helped the Catalans to break the dominance of Real Madrid. He returned to Barcelona as their new manager in 1988 and wrote another new chapter in the history of the club by guiding them to a total of 11 major titles, including their second ever Champions League trophy.

Cruyff expanded the idea of possession-based Total Football he learnt as a player with

and Dutch national team. With the help of a golden generation of Barcelona's football academy, La Masia, Cruyff assembled the famous 'Dream team' that became one of the most popular football sides in the history of football.

In total, Cruyff won 11 trophies in 8 years and was the most accomplished coach in Barcelona's history until Pep Guardiola broke the record almost twenty years later, with 14 titles in 4 seasons. Pep Guardiola, Romario, Michael Laudrup, Hristo Stoichkov, and Ronald Koeman were the most influential players for Cruyff's Barcelona side in this era.

Cruyff's footballing principles have significantly influenced the football career of many players and managers, including two of his successors, Frank Rijkaard and Pep Guardiola. Many football fans admire Cruyff for his exciting version of attacking football and many managers around the have tried to imitate his vision and tactics. He laid the foundations for the beautiful attacking football we see Barca play today.

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Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola is considered as one of the most influential managers in the evolution of football. The former star player's managerial career started in 2008 as Frank Rijkaard's successor, who was fired from Barcelona after a lackluster two-season spell which saw Real Madrid winning both titles.

Barcelona president at the time, Juan Laporta decided to appoint Pep Guardiola as the head coach, despite the latter's lack of experience in coaching. The decision paid off incredibly.

Guardiola's first move was to let the two main stars of the team, Ronaldinho and Deco leave the club and instead opted to build his new team around

and other La Masia talents such as Xavi, Carlos Puyol, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, and Sergio Busquets.

He also revolutionized Cruyff's version of Total Football with his new version of high-pressing and Tiki-Taka Tactics. His team conquered every competition in the football world and went on to win a total of 14 titles in 4 seasons, including an unprecedented sextuple at the 2008-2009 season. Guardiola is without a doubt one of the

best Barcelona managers of all time

.

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Worst Barcelona managers of all time

Now is the time to have a look at the

Worst Barcelona managers of all time

. Of course! Quique Setien is included, and so is his predecessor, Ernesto Valverde. Read on to see who else has made our list.

Ladislav Kubala

Kubala was a legendary player for Barcelona in the 1950's and scored 131 goals in 186 matches. Yet he could not be as magical in his managerial career. He first coaches Barcelona from 1961 to 1963, while he was also a player at the club, and had moderate success.

In 1980 he accepted to manage his old time club, although he was the manager of

at the time. His second spell proved to be complete disaster as Barcelona suffered from 6 defeats in 13 games and also faltered in the European competitions and Kubala left the club less than a year after his second appointment as Barcelona's manager.

Lorenzo Serra Ferrer

Definitely one of the worst managers in Barcelona coaches history, Ferrer was appointed as Van Gaal's replacement in 2000 after impressing in his five-season spell with

. His time only lasted six months. He was fired after a 1–3 defeat against Osasuna with Barcelona in the fifth place at the La Liga table, 17 points behind leaders Real Madrid. He was replaced by former club legend Carles Rexach, who himself is a strong candidate among the worst in Barcelona managers history.

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Luis Van Gaal (second term)

The famous Dutch manager had a glorious first spell at Barcelona and managed to win 2 La Liga and 1 Copa del Rey titles in three seasons. Barcelona suffered from two trophy-less campaigns after his departure which lead to his return to the Camp Nue in May 2002. This time, Barcelona was a complete disaster under Van Gaal. The Dutchman lasted only 30 games and won six times in La Liga. By the time he left, Barcelona were just three points above the relegation zone and 20 points off the top.

Ernesto Valverde

Ernesto Valverde is a rather unusual choice among the worst coaches in

Barcelona managers history

, given the fact that with 4 trophies in two and half season, Valverde is the seventh most successful manager in the history of the club. However, his time at the Camp Nue will forever be remembered with two humiliating come-backs his team suffered in the Champions League against AS Roma and

.

Valverde had a good relationship with the heavy weights of the dressing room, including Lionel Messi who supported him until his very last day at the job. But Barcelona fans who were used to having charismatic and attacking-minded managers did not like his indifferent poses at the touchline and the conservatism he implemented in Barcelona's playing system. Few Barcelona managers faced the amount of criticism he received from the fans, which ultimately led to his sacking in the winter of 2020.

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Quique Setien

Quique Setien was appointed as Ernesto Valverde's successor with a mission to lead back the Catalans to their true style and a place among European greats. A plan which seemed right at the time given his background as a player during Cruyff's era and the success he had with Las Palmas and Real Betis while using the possession-based playing system.

However, in reality Setien's appointment marked one of the darkest times in the club's history. He never showed the character needed for the job and constantly expressed his amazement for the fact that his fate was changed overnight from walking his cows in his ranch to leading one of the best clubs in the world.

Setien lost the dressing room as soon as he entered the club. Barcelona lost the La Liga title race to Real Madrid, was eliminated against Bilbao at the Copa del Rey and suffered one of its heaviest defeats ever by 8 goals to 2 to

in the Champions League quarter finals.

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A complete list of FC Barcelona Managers

We wrap off our article on Barcelona Managers History with complete

list of FC Barcelona managers

from their First ever coach, Juan Gamper to their current one, Ronald Koeman.  

• Joan Gamper (1902 -1917) – 12 titles

• John Barrow (1917 -1917) - No title

• Jack Greenwell (1917 -1923) – 6 titles

• Alf Spouncer (1923 -1924) – 1 title

• Jesza Poszony (1924 - December 1924) – 2 titles

• Ralph Kirby (December 1924 - February 1926) – 2 titles

• Jack Dumby (February 19 - 26 December 1926) – 1 title

• Roma Forns (December 1926 - March 1929) – 3 titles

• James Bellamy  (March 1929 - July 1931) – 2 titles

• Jack Greenwell (July 1931 - July 1933) – 1 title

• Jack Dumby (July 1933 - July 1934) – No title

• Franz Platko (July 1934 - July 1935) – 1 title

• Patrick O'Connell (July 1935 - March 1940) – 2 titles

• Josep Planas (March 1940 - July 1941) – No title

• Ramon Guzman (July 1941 - January 1942) – No title

• Joan Josep Nogues (January 1942 - June 1944) – 1 title

• Josep Samitier (June 1944 - July 1947) – 2 titles

• Enrique Fernandez (July 1947 - May 1950) – 4 titles

• Ramon Llorens (May 1950 - June 1950) – No title

• Ferdinand Daucik (June 1950- July 1954) – 8 title

• Sandro Puppo (July 1954 - June 1955) – No title

• Franz Platko (June 1955 - June 1956) – No title

• Domingo Balmanya (June 1956 - April 1958) – 2 titles

• Helenio Herrera (April 1958 - May 1960) – 4 titles

• Enric Rabassa (May 1960 - June 1960) – No title

• Ljubisa Brocic (June 1960 - January 1961) – No title

• Enrique Orizaola (January 1961 - June 1961) – No title

• Luis Miro (June 1961 - November 1961) – No title

• Ladislao Kubala (November 1961 - January 1963) – No title

• Josep Gonzalvo (January 1963 - July 1963) – 1 title

• Cesar Rodríguez (July 1963 - October 1964) – No title

• Vicente Sasot (October 1964 - June 1965) – No title

• Roque Olsen (June 1965 - June 1967) – 1 title

• Salvador Artigas (June 1967 - October 1969) – 1 title

• Josep Seguer (October 1969 - December 1969) – No title

• Vic Buckingham (December 1969 - July 1971) – 1 title

• Rinus Michels (July 1971 - May 1975) – 1 title

• Hennes Weisweiler (May 1975 - April 1976) – No title

• Laureano Ruiz (April 1976 - May 1976) – No title

• Rinus Michels (May 1976 - May 1978) – 1 title

• Lucien Muller (May 1978 - April 1979) – No title

• Joaquim Rife (April 1979 - March 1980) – 1 title

• Helenio Herrera (March 1980 - May 1980) – No title

• Ladislao Kubala (May 1980 - November 1980) – No title

• Helenio Herrera (November 1980 - June 1981) – 1 title

• Udo Lattek (June 1981 - March 1983) – 1 title

• Jose Luis Romero (March 1983 - March 1983) – No title

• Cesar Luis Menotti (March 1983 - June 1984) – 3 titles

• Terry Venables (June 1984 - September 1987) – 2 titles

• Luis Aragones (September 1987 - May 1988) – 1 title

• Carles Rexach (May 1988 - May 1988) – No title

• Johan Cruyff (May 1988 - May 1996) – 11 titles

• Carles Rexach (May 1996 - May 1996) – No title

• Bobby Robson (May 1996 - June 1997) – 3 titles

• Louis van Gaal (June 1997 - May 2000) – 4 titles

• Llorenc Serra Ferrer (May 2000 - April 2001) – No title

• Carles Rexach (April 2001 - May 2002) – No title

• Louis van Gaal (May 2002 - January 2003) – No title

• Radomir Antic (January 2003 - June 2003) – No title

• Frank Rijkaard (June 2003 - June 2008) – 5 titles

• Pep Guardiola (June 2008 - June 2012) – 14 titles

• Tito Vilanova (June 2012 - July 2013) – 1 title

• Gerardo Martino (July 2013 - May 2014) – No title

• Luis Enrique (May 2014 - May 2017) – 9 titles

• Ernesto Valverde (May 2017 - January 2020) – 4 titles

• Quique Setien (January 2020 - August 2020) – No title

• Ronald Koeman (August 2020 - Present) – No title

Thank you for reading our lengthy article on

Barcelona managers history

. Did you agree with our pick of the best and worst of them?  Where will Ronald Koeman end up at the end of his helm at the club? Let us know in the comment section.

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