5 Current Head Coaches Who Managed Their Former Clubs After Retiring As Players

In European soccer, several clubs are appointing their former players as their head coaches.

Xavi Hernandez, who recently returned to FC Barcelona, this time as their head coach, has become the latest player-turned manager to be appointed by his former club as their boss.

In the current crop of managers, there are many who have coached their former club in the past or are doing so at present, including the three dynamic managers in the Premier League -- Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Jurgen Klopp

After playing for German club Mainz 05 for the majority of his playing career, Klopp took up the managerial role at the club in 2001. In his third season at Mainz, Klopp helped them finish third in the league, which meant, Mainz secured promotion to Germany’s top-flight, Bundesliga, for the first time in the club’s history. At the end of 2006-07, Mainz were once again relegated from top-tier soccer but Klopp chose to stick around. He eventually left the club in 2008, having claimed 109 wins, 78 draws and 83 losses.

Klopp followed that with an incredible stint with Borussia Dortmund before moving to Liverpool FC in 2015. Under the German boss’ management, the Reds have so far lifted four trophies, including the club’s first-ever Premier League.

Pep Guardiola

Guardiola, who currently manages Manchester City, earlier managed FC Barcelona, a club he had been associated with for the longest time as a player. Guardiola won as many as six La Liga titles with Barcelona and a Champions League trophy.

He returned the favor during his four-year stint with the Catalans as their head coach from 2008 to 2012, where the Camp Nou side clinched three consecutive league titles and two Champions League trophies among many other laurels.

Xavi Hernandez

Xavi, who played alongside Guardiola and also under his management at Camp Nou, is all set to become the new boss of Barcelona. The Spaniard spent 17 years with Barcelona’s first team, where he won many trophies with the club, including eight La Liga titles and four Champions Leagues.

The former midfielder began his coaching career at Qatar-based club Al-Sadd, where he had joined as a player after leaving Barcelona in 2015. Under Xavi’s charge, Al-Sadd won the league title in the 2018-19 season.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

Solskjaer, who is the manager of Manchester United, is among the current head coaches who are in charge of their former club at present. The Norwegian forward played for the Red Devils from 1996 to 2007. He netted the winning goal in the 1998-99 Champions League final to help Manchester United lift their second top-European trophy. During his stint with the Red Devils as a player, Solskjaer played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, whom he manages now as the club’s head coach.

Solskjaer, who has been Manchester United’s in charge since December 2018, is yet to win a trophy as their manager.

Mikel Arteta

Arteta, who ended his playing career at Arsenal, is now their current head coach. He has been at the helm at Emirates Stadium since December 2019. As Arsenal’s manager, in his maiden season, Arteta helped the club win the FA Cup in 2019-20, the same domestic trophy he had won twice as a player with the Gunners.