1. Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola took over as FC Barcelona coach in 2008, and the club has not looked back. He was named the world’s best coach for a second consecutive time by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics.

Guardiola also won the FIFA Best Manager Award for 2011. He defeated Jose Mourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson, who were also in consideration.

FC Barcelona won the UEFA Champions League two times, with the last victory in the year 2011 at Wembley Stadium. The opponent was Manchester United.

La Blaugrana won the UEFA Super Cup two times, the Spanish Super Cup three consecutive times and El Clasico. Cesc Fabregas, Alexis Sanchez, David Villa and Javier Mascherano joined La Blaugrana during his era as coach.

Guardiola was also famous for using the 4-3-3 tactic and taking Barca to China. La Blaugrana won 143 of its 200 matches (72 percent) under Guardiola, which was more than Rijkaard and Cruyff.

Barca also scored 99 goals within 44 UEFA Champions League matches under Guardiola. It remains to be seen what can transpire for La Blaugrana if Guardiola continues his success as coach.

2. Johann Cruyff

Johann Cruyff once said: “Football is simple. You are in time or too late. When you are too late, you should start sooner.”

He served as manager of La Blaugrana from 1988 to 1996 and was the honorary president.

Under Cruyff, FC Barcelona became known as the “dream team” with the presence of players such as Romario, Salmas and (the future manager) Guardiola.

Cruyff was a believer in “total football” and applied it during his career as manager.

Cruyff managed to win the following titles: La Liga, Copa Del Rey, European Cup, the European Super Cup and the Supercopa de Espana. He also introduced a new form of play called the tiki-taka.

The tiki-taka is comprised of short passing and movement of the ball while maintaining possession. The method was used with success by the Spanish national world football team during Euro 2008 and the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

3. Frank Rijkaard

BARCELONA, SPAIN – JANUARY 22: FC Barcelona’s coach Frank Rijkaard is pictured during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Alaves played at the Camp Nou stadium on January 22, 2006 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Luis Bagu/Getty Images)

Frank Rijkaard arrived at FC Barcelona in the year 2003 to become manager. The Rijkaard years (between 2003 to 2008) saw the club defeat Arsenal to win its second UEFA Champions League trophy.

La Blaugrana won the European Super Cup and was able to win two League titles. Rijkaard stressed defense, pressure and an attacking football style.

Rijkaard was awarded for his style by being selected the World’s Best Manager by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS). He managed 283 matches with 167 victories, 52 defeats and 64 draws.

La Blaugrana was able to score 544 goals and concede 254 of them. Rijkaard’s victory percentage was 59 percent, with 112 victories within the Spanish league.

Rijkaard was succeeded by Pep Guardiola in 2008.

4. Luis Aragones

Luis Aragones was manager of FC Barcelona from 1987 to 1988. He took over at a time when the players demonstrated against the Presidency of Josep Lluis Nunez.

Aragones was remembered for supporting the players against the President Nunez.

Unfortunately, he was unable to produce for the team secondary to personal problems and resigned.

5. Marinus Michels

Marinus Michels was manager of La Blaugrana from 1971 to 1975 and again from 1976 to 1978. During his first season, Barca defeated Leeds United in the Fairs Cup in the club’s only victory.

Michels was able to win one trophy in the second season only to have a dry spell in 1974-1975. While Michels was a strict manager who wanted perfection, he was forced to leave secondary to lack of results.

Michels returned briefly from 1976 to 1978 and left after Barca won the Copa Del Rey trophy.

6. Radomir Antic

Barcelona. 03/02/2003.Foto: Miguel Ruiz. Entrenamiento del Barcelona en el campo de la Masia. Antic durante la sesion.

Radomir Antic was the manager of FC Barcelona for a brief period in 2003.

He replaced Louis Van Gaal, who was fired, and served as a transitional figure until the arrival of Frank Rijkaard.

7. Laureano Ruiz

Laureano Ruiz served a brief stint as FC Barcelona manager in 1976.

Ruiz loved world football, but this was not enough for Barca, and he was just a transitional figure between the two periods of Marinus Michels.

Ruiz later founded an academy to train world football players, and he deserves to be admired since he wanted to teach future generation of world football players.

8. Udo Lattek

Udo Lattek was manager of FC Barcelona from 1981 to 1983. I remember hearing the Bundesliga matches transmitted by Deutsche Welle on shortwave radio in the 1970s.

The name of Lattek would appear in the matches since he was great as manager of Bayern Munich. Lattek had the misfortune of being unable to duplicate in Barca what he did in Germany.

In his first year as manager, La Blaugrana started on the top of the list of La Liga. The end of the season was marked with a humiliating defeat to Real Sociedad. Lattek went from bad to worse when Diego Armando Maradona joined Barca in Lattek’s second season.

Maradona did not help the situation, for Lattek, and Barca lost to Racing Santander. The result was the firing of Udo Lattek from La Blaugrana.

10. Louis Van Gaal

Louis Van Gaal was manager of La Blaugrana two times. His first period was from 1997 to 2000 and his second was from 2002 to 2003.

According to the FC Barcelona website, Van Gaal was not an easy person to deal with on the field. The first days were marked with the intent to have Barca players understand his vision of football.

Van Gaal was able to win trophies for the team in spite of these difficulties. La Blaugrana won the La Liga, Copa Del Rey and the European Super Cup in the first year of Van Gaal.

Barca won La Liga in his second season as manager only to finish without trophies in 1999-2000. Van Gaal resigned as manager in 2000 only to return in 2002.

The second period of Van Gaal was a disaster since Barca won six matches, lost eight and drew five. The result was that Van Gaal was forced to resign as Barca manager in 2003.

• 1917-1917 – John Barrow (19 matches)
• 1917-1923 – Jack Greenwell (371 matches)
• 1923-1924 – Alf Spouncer
• 1924-1924 – Jesza Poszony (47 matches)
• 1924-1925 – Ralph Kirby (39 matches)
• 1926-1926 – Jack Domby (55 matches)
• 1926-1929 – Romà Forns (70 matches)
• 1929-1931 – James Bellamy (81 matches)
• 1931-1933 – Jack Greenwell (71 matches)
• 1933-1934 – Jack Domby (38 matches)
• 1934-1935 – Franz Platko (37 matches)
• 1935-1940 – Patrick O’Connell (63 matches)
• 1940-1941 – Josep Planas (62 matches)
• 1941-1942 – Ramon Guzman (15 matches)
• 1942-1944 – Joan Josep Nogués (85 matches)
• 1944-1947 – Josep Samitier (89 matches)
• 1947-1950 – Enrique Fernández (81 matches)
• 1950-1950 – Ramon Llorens (11 matches)
• 1950-1954 – Ferdinand Daucik (150 matches)
• 1954-1955 – Sandro Puppo (34 matches)
• 1955-1956 – Franz Platko (36 matches)
• 1956-1958 – Domènec Balmanya (69 matches)
• 1958-1960 – Helenio Herrera (94 matches)
• 1960-1960 – Enric Rabassa (6 matches)
• 1960-1961 – Ljubisa Brocic (23 matches)
• 1961-1961 – Enrique Orizaola (25 matches)
• 1961-1961 – Lluís Miró (15 matches)
• 1961-1963 – Ladislau Kubala (51 matches)
• 1963-1963 – Josep Gonzalvo (24 matches)
• 1963-1964 – César Rodríguez (50 matches)
• 1964-1965 – Vicenç Sasot (36 matches)
• 1965-1967 – Roque Olsen (88 matches)
• 1967-1969 – Salvador Artigas (87 matches)
• 1969-1970 – Josep Seguer (12 matches)
• 1970-1971 – Vic Buckingham (66 matches)
• 1971-1975 – Rinus Michels (169 matches)
• 1975-1976 – Hennes Weisweiler (40 matches)
• 1976-1976 – Laureano Ruiz (10 matches)
• 1976-1978 – Rinus Michels (95 matches)
• 1978-1979 – Lucien Müller (36 matches)
• 1979-1980 – Joaquim Rifé (40 matches)
• 1980-1980 – Helenio Herrera (13 matches)
• 1980-1980 – Ladislau Kubala (13 matches)
• 1980-1981 – Helenio Herrera (36 matches)
• 1981-1983 – Udo Lattek (80 matches)
• 1983-1983 – José Luis Romero Robledo (1 matches)
• 1983-1984 – César Luis Menotti (73 matches)
• 1984-1987 – Terry Venables (169 matches)
• 1987-1988 – Luis Aragonés (50 matches)
• 1988-1988 – Carles Rexach (2 matches)
• 1988-1996 – Johan Cruyff (430 matches)
• 1996-1996 – Carles Rexach (2 matches)
• 1996-1997 – Bobby Robson (60 matches)
• 1997-2000 – Louis van Gaal (170 matches)
• 2000-2001 – Llorenç Serra Ferrer (51 matches)
• 2001-2002 – Carles Rexach (66 matches)
• 2002-2003 – Louis van Gaal (30 matches)
• 2003-2003 – Jesús Antonio de la Cruz (2 matches)
• 2003-2003 – Radomir Antic (24 matches)
• 2003-2008 – Frank Rijkaard (273 matches)
• 2008-2012 – Josep Guardiola
• 2012-2013 – Francesc ‘Tito’ Vilanova
• 2013-2013 – Jordi Roura
• 2013-2014 – Gerardo Daniel ‘Tata’ Martino
• 2014-2017 – Luis Enrique Martínez
• 2017-present – Ernesto Valverde