Pep Guardiola: "My father is 95 years old, I want to spend time with him and with my family"

BarcelonaAfter two decades as a coach, 41 professional titles and a life dedicated to football, Pep Guardiola has decided to stop. The 55-year-old coach received an offer from the Italian national team to continue coaching, but he has remained firm in his decision to step away from top-level football. In an interview on the OKX platform podcast, Guardiola confesses some of the reasons that led him to take this break. “My father is 95 years old and I want to spend more time with him, with my sisters and with my brother – he explains–. My whole life has been tied to football to the point of questioning if I could do anything other than play or coach. Now I'm trying to enjoy other things, but I still have to get used to it”.

Despite not being used to the new routine, Guardiola states that he does not miss football: “Every day when I wake up, I ask myself if I miss it, but so far the answer has always been no”. The coach explains that one of the reasons that led him to stop coaching is physical exhaustion: “It’s ten years with the same routine. It’s like eating spaghetti every day”, he says. “I love my job, but there comes a point where you don’t have the necessary energy to continue, and then I decided to take a break”, he adds. Guardiola also explains that, in recent years, “he has suffered from back pain” and says that “he wants to take care of himself by doing sports and seeing his children much more”.

Experiences, more important than trophies

Besides the reasons for his temporary retirement, Guardiola also talks about how a football coach deals with pressure. "When I arrived at Barça, they told me that 86% of the environment didn't want me. At that moment I thought: 'Perfect, this way the expectations are lower and I can work better.'" Pep Guardiola won 14 titles out of 19 possible during his time as coach of Barça, including two Champions Leagues, three Leagues, and two Copa del Rey. Guardiola is the second coach with the most titles in the history of football. However, the coach assures that it is not what worries him most: “Counting trophies doesn't make me happy, I like to keep the experiences I lived in Barcelona, Munich, and Manchester”.

Along these lines, Guardiola explains how the fear of being fired is managed. “A friend of mine told me that as a coach you have to go to the field with your resignation letter in your pocket. This way you take off a lot of pressure and understand that if it doesn't work, you leave without any problem,” he points out. Guardiola also believes that "discipline does not guarantee success", but that "it is impossible to succeed without discipline". At the end of the interview, the coach shares a piece of advice his father always gives him: “Be a good person, be kind to people always”.