The UEFA Champions League remains one of the biggest trophies in world football, which has witnessed some of the greatest managers win it on numerous occasions. The competition, a testing ground for bragging rights, has continued to be a tough call for managers.

However, some of the greatest football managers like Carlo Ancelotti, Bob Paisley, Pep Guardiola, Zinedine Zidane, and José Mourinho have success lifted it more than once.

For football managers, winning the UCL remains the ultimate goal, and it is because of the prestige and respect one would receive across the community through his career.

Ranking the managers who have won the Champions League the most in history

Carlo Ancelotti

Светлана Бекетова, CC BY-SA 3.0 GFDL, via Wikimedia Commons

Italian tactician Carlo Ancelotti is the most successful manager in the history of UCL. He has four titles across the two clubs he has managed (AC Milan and Real Madrid).

Ancelotti had won it twice with AC Milan and then in the European Cup as a player. When he returned to the club as manager, he successfully lifted the UEFA Champions League with AC Milan twice in 2002–03 and 2006–07.

As if it was not the ultimate test for the Italian, he went on to win two more UCL titles with Real Madrid. The first title was during the 2013–14 season, and the second was in the 2021–22 season, a time when the football community had ruled out the chances of his team.

However, Ancelotti recorded surprise results against PSG, Chelsea, Manchester City, and Liverpool to lift the title, which became Real Madrid’s thirteenth title historically.

Bob Paisley

Bob Paisley is behind Liverpool’s conquest of Europe. The English football manager led the reds to early dominance on the continent by lifting three titles which, includes two consecutive wins in 1977 and 1978.

He was an outstanding manager whose tactics were enough to conquer Europe. Today, his contributions keep the club at the summit as the most successful English team in UEFA Champions League history.

Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane’s reign at Real Madrid was historic as the Frenchman moved from being the coach of the club’s youth team to winning three consecutive titles. His achievement makes Los Blancos the first club to win consecutive titles since the rebranding from the European Cup to its current format.

Zinedine Zidane had some of the best players on the continent, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Casemiro, Luka Modric, Toni Kroos, Marcelo, and Pepe, at his disposal at the time.

To date, Zinedine Zidane continues to rank as one of the best managers in the history of the UEFA Champions League, especially in the modern era.

José Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, Alex Ferguson and Jupp Heynckes are some of famous names in the modern era with two trophies.

Other managers with at least two UCL titles

José Villalonga, Luis Carniglia, Bela Guttmann, Helenio Herrera, Miguel Munoz, Nereo Rocco, Stefan Kovacs, Dettmar Cramer, Brian Clough, Ernst Happel, Arrigo Sacchi, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Jupp Heynckes, Pep Guardiola.