MANCHESTER, England – After a decade of unprecedented success that reshaped English top-flight football and turned Manchester City into one of the most dominant forces in global soccer, Pep Guardiola has officially confirmed he will depart the club at the end of the current season, ending the most anticipated coaching exit in recent Premier League history.
The Catalan boss, widely regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, will lead the Sky Blues for his final match this Sunday against Aston Villa, despite having 12 months remaining on his existing contract. In an emotional announcement Friday, Guardiola said he felt the moment had come to step away, declining to share specific reasons for his decision beyond an inner conviction that his time at the Etihad Stadium had come to a natural close.
“Don’t ask me the reasons I’m leaving. There is no reason, but deep inside I know it’s my time,” Guardiola told reporters. The 55-year-old added that he plans to step back from coaching entirely for the foreseeable future, acknowledging he no longer has the consistent high energy required to compete for major honors at the highest level year after year.
Guardiola’s 10-season spell at Manchester City stands as the longest tenure of his entire managerial career, breaking his long-running pattern of never staying in a single role for more than four years. Across his time at the club, Guardiola delivered an unmatched haul of 17 major senior trophies, including six Premier League titles, one Champions League crown (claimed in 2023), four League Cups, and two FA Cups. This season alone, he added a domestic double of the FA Cup and League Cup to his collection, capping his tenure with yet more silverware.
Among his many groundbreaking achievements, Guardiola led City to become the first English club ever to claim four consecutive Premier League titles, set a top-flight record with 100 points in the 2017-18 campaign, and claim a historic full domestic treble (league, FA Cup, League Cup) in 2019. In 2023, he guided the club to an even more remarkable treble, adding the Champions League to Premier League and FA Cup honors to match the iconic feat first achieved by Manchester United in 1999. Across his entire career stints at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Manchester City, Guardiola has now won 35 major managerial trophies.
Beyond silverware, Guardiola revolutionized the identity of English football with his signature possession-based playing style, centered on building attacks from the back through the goalkeeper and defensive line. This approach has been widely replicated at every level of the game across the country, from grassroots youth teams to top-flight rival clubs. Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak highlighted Guardiola’s far-reaching impact on the sport in a statement following the announcement, noting that the manager’s innovative approach challenged long-held assumptions about how the game should be played.
“The unique approach that he brings to his coaching has allowed him to constantly challenge the accepted truths of our game. It is the reason that in the last 10 years he has not only made Manchester City better — he has also made football better,” Al Mubarak said, adding that Guardiola’s decision to step away now was the right call for both the manager and the club.
In recognition of his unparalleled legacy at the club, Manchester City has announced that Guardiola will take on a new role as a global ambassador for the club, and will provide technical guidance to other clubs under the City Football Group ownership umbrella. The club will also honor his contributions by naming the newly developed stand at the Etihad Stadium after him. Chief Executive Ferran Sorriano emphasized that Guardiola’s lasting impact will be studied and celebrated by future club historians, praising his unmatched consistency in chasing titles year after year.
“If there is something more difficult than winning, it is winning again. It requires incredible persistence, resilience and the humility to start again every year, with the same energy, again and again. This is what Pep did,” Sorriano said.
The leading candidate to replace Guardiola is Enzo Maresca, a former head coach of Chelsea who previously worked as an assistant manager under Guardiola at Manchester City, who now faces the unenviable challenge of filling the shoes of a manager who delivered a decade of unprecedented dominance. Even with Guardiola departing on a high note after another trophy-winning season, this campaign marked the first time in his City tenure that the club failed to claim the Premier League title in back-to-back seasons, and the Sky Blues have been eliminated before the Champions League quarterfinals in both of the last two campaigns.
Throughout his time at Manchester City, Guardiola repeatedly defended the club against lingering financial fair play allegations. The Premier League has brought more than 110 charges against City related to alleged financial breaches between 2009 and 2018, a period when the club won three league titles and recruited many of its star players. Guardiola has repeatedly stated he remains fully convinced of the club’s innocence, which City has consistently maintained.
In a farewell message to City’s global fanbase, Guardiola struck a reflective, proud tone: “We worked. We suffered. We fought. And we did things our own way. Our way.”