FA Cup final vs Chelsea this weekend 

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This Saturday is a special day in the English footballing calendar. It’s FA Cup final day. Football purists were enthused to hear that the kick-off time had been put back to the original 3pm and no other Premier League matches will be played that day. Wembley will play host to Manchester City and Chelsea, as the two clubs lock horns and battle for the trophy of the oldest competition in football. Wembley has become a familiar hunting ground for the Sky Blues. In fact, they have played 33 matches at the iconic stadium in the last 15 seasons.

In the more recent Pep Guardiola era, finals have become the norm. In eight of the ten seasons since the Spaniard came to the Etihad, Man City have competed in at least one major final. The numbers are extremely impressive but how do they compare to Europe’s other elite managers? At Transfermarkt, we have compiled the data for the managers to have made it to the most major finals for top five league teams since Guardiola arrived in Manchester in the 2016/17 season. We have included the following competitions: Champions League, Europa League, Europa Conference League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, Copa del Rey, DFB Pokal, Coppa Italia, Coupe de France, Coupe de la Ligue.

Most cup finals since 2016/17

To no great surprise, leading the way is the man himself: Guardiola. Saturday’s FA Cup final will be his 12th cup final with Man City. He has won eight of his previous 11 attempts, only losing the 2020/21 Champions League final to Chelsea, the 2023/24 FA Cup final to Manchester United and the 2024/25 FA Cup final to Crystal Palace. The next closest manager is current England boss Thomas Tuchel. Since 2016, the German made it to nine cup finals with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich, but won just four of them. However, one of those victories was the 2020/21 Champions League triumph over Guardiola.

In third place is current Aston Villa manager Unai Emery with seven finals. This season’s Europa League final will be his third since 2016 in that competition, whilst he also went to four domestic cup finals as PSG manager. Former Liverpool boss Jürgen Klopp and former Inter Milan manager Simone Inzaghi have each been to six finals in that period, with the former winning four and the latter winning three.

Luis Enrique will go to his fifth final since 2016/17 with PSG in this season’s Champions League final – he has won all of the previous four. Both José Mourinho and Massimiliano Allegri have won three of their five top five league cup finals in the past decade and take seventh and eighth spot. Legendary Italian boss Carlo Ancelotti had been to four cup finals, winning threem whilst Croatian Niko Kovac completes the top 10 having won two of four finals.