Seven Potential Destinations for Pep Guardiola After Man City Exit

Manchester City will shortly need a new manager, as Pep Guardiola prepares to walk away after a 10-year spell at the Etihad Stadium that has seen the club dominate English soccer.

Guardiola arrived in the summer of 2016 following three seasons at Bayern Munich and, after a year of bedding in, delivered the Premier League’s first and still only 100-point campaign.

City later became the first in England to win four league titles in a row, while his 2022–23 treble was just the second time an English club had won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same year—matching Manchester United’s 1998–99 success.

This season, in what now is widely reported to be his last before City appoint former assistant coach and ex-Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca, Guardiola has already delivered a domestic cup double. It could even become a domestic treble if they can snatch the Premier League title from Arsenal.

Enzo Maresca, Pep Guardiola — Enzo Maresca (left) is lined up to replace Guardiola in Manchester. | Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC/Getty Images

But while City’s future appears locked in already, what Guardiola does next is still up for debate.

Back in 2018, the proud Catalan spoke openly about his desire to manage a national team, which could still influence where he ends up in the coming months—or coming years with a break first.

“In our lives we have dreams of what we’d like to do in the future, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen,” Guardiola said at the time.

“I would like to play a World Cup and a European Championship. I would like to live that situation. When I see the World Cup, I think I would like to be there. I had just one chance to do it as a player [in 1994]. In eight, 12, 14 years maybe it could happen. It’s just a dream I have as a manager and a person. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn’t.”

Discussing the same topic in 2024, he stated: “What I'm not going to do is leave Manchester City and go to another country. I wouldn’t have the energy to do so.”

Paris Saint-Germain

PSG players — PSG might be the only way Guardiola stays in club soccer. | Ibrahim Ezzat/NurPhotoGetty Images

Another move within club management is unlikely, but never say never. There are very few plausible landings spots for someone of Guardiola’s level, which drastically limits the options.

Imagining Guardiola at another team in England, Germany or Spain is impossible, while Italian soccer is no longer the draw—or has the financial resources—of years past. But Paris Saint-Germain, in the event that Luis Enrique moves on to a new challenge in the next couple of seasons, is an intriguing prospect. The lack of domestic competition in France could also make it less draining.

Enrique has already broken PSG’s longstanding Champions League curse, but the chance for Guardiola to make history by becoming the first manager to lead three different teams to Champions League glory could be appealing. With PSG as they are, it would be very doable.

Guardiola is currently tied with Enrique, Jupp Heynckes, Ottmar Hitzfeld, Ernst Happel, José Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti in the list of managers to have won European Cups with two clubs.

Spain

The most obvious national team for Guardiola would be his own: Spain.

The former midfielder played 47 times for La Roja between 1992 and 2001, only going to so few tournaments because injuries ruled him out of Euro ’96 and the 1998 World Cup. In 1992, he’d captained Spain to an Olympic gold medal at a home Games in Barcelona.

The end of a tournament cycle, can often be when changes are made, and underperforming this summer could hurt incumbent manager Luis de la Fuente. But whether Guardiola, who has supported Catalan separatism, would want the job is a potential issue.

When he spoke about this in direct reference to Spain eight years ago, he said he thought it was “not going to happen,” so it depends if anything has changed.

Italy

Italy could be an intriguing challenge for Guardiola. It is one of the greatest and most storied national teams of all time—only Brazil (five) has won more World Cups than Italy’s four—but missing a third straight World Cup in 2026 has been nothing short of a national catastrophe.

Italy won Euro 2020 in imperious fashion, which makes their repeated failure to qualify at a global level all the more puzzling. But the chance to have Guardiola whip the team into shape is something the national soccer federation (FIGC) in Rome cannot pass up.

Guardiola at least has a prior connection to the country, playing for both Brescia and Roma in Serie A towards the end of his career.

England

Another interesting proposition would be England, the country Guardiola has called home for a decade—it is the place he’s lived for far longer than anywhere else aside from Barcelona.

Current Three Lions manager Thomas Tuchel has a contract until after Euro 2028, which presents a couple of different scenarios. The German is yet to lead England at a tournament, having only started work in early 2025, so a poor World Cup in which the team is among the favorites to lift the trophy could result in the Football Association rethinking his appointment later this year.

Alternatively, if Guardiola takes a break to rest and recharge and Tuchel reaches the end of his contract in two years’ time without renewing, it could make for a convenient transition.

Mexico

Mexican soccer is certainly not without passion or ambition. There is so much potential, but at the same time frustration and limitations—prior to the upcoming World Cup on home turf, El Tri has had seven round-of-16 eliminations in the last eight and hasn’t reached the quarterfinals in 40 years.

Could Guardiola be the man to take the team to new heights?

Mexico’s national soccer federation (FMF) is not short on cash and while homegrown hero Javier Aguirre is currently is his third spell as manager, there has also been a past willingness to appoint high profile foreign imports—like Gerardo ‘Tata’ Martino and Sven-Göran Eriksson.

As with Italy, Guardiola is also no stranger to Mexico. He played there briefly for Dorados before retiring as a player for good in 2006.

U.A.E.

UAE players — Guardiola could build U.A.E. in his image. | Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto/Getty Images

The United Arab Emirates has much unfulfilled ambition when it comes to soccer.

Manchester City owner Sheikh Mansour, vice-president (since 2023), deputy prime minister (since 2009) and member of the royal family, scratches the itch at club level.

But the oil-rich Gulf nation hasn’t qualified for the World Cup since 1990—still its sole appearance at the tournament—and missed multiple chances to make it in 2026, blowing opportunities against Qatar and Iraq that would both have equated to qualification.

Having Guardiola design, implement and oversee a blueprint for the national team’s short and long-term development has got to be desirable. And setting up a meeting with the 55-year-old to at least explore the idea isn’t exactly going to be a challenge.

United States

USMNT player shirts — How does the USMNT become globally competitive? | Noushad Thekkayil/NurPhoto/Getty Images

When Guardiola was burnt out from the intensity of his job at Barcelona, he took a year-long sabbatical from soccer and spent it living in New York—on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. He loved it and spoke about being able to have a relatively normal life away from Europe’s spotlight, something that has been a draw for others in the United States, like Lionel Messi.

It’s a possibility that the United States men’s national team is soon in need of a new coach, with zero guarantees that Mauricio Pochettino continues beyond the 2026 World Cup when his contract ends.

U.S. Soccer is clearly prepared to invest heavily in foreign coaches to be the catalyst for international success and overall development, and Guardiola is emerging as a perfect candidate at precisely the right time.

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