Fact check: Mikel Arteta second Premier League player to win league as manager

In a post on Facebook, the Professional Footballers’ Association claimed that Mikel Arteta is “the first former Premier League player to win the Premier League as a manager”.

Evaluation

Arteta is the second Premier League player to have also successfully navigated a team to lift the Premier League trophy as a player.

The facts

There have been 13 managers who have won the Premier League in the more than three decades since the league was established.

Mikel Arteta was the first to win the Premier League as a manager of a side for whom he had played in the Premier League.

However Roberto Mancini won the Premier League’s 2011/12 season as Manchester City manager. He had previously played in the Premier League while on loan to Leicester City in January and February 2001.

The most successful manager in Premier League history was Sir Alex Ferguson who won the title 13 times with Manchester United between the 1992/93 and 2012/13 seasons. Sir Alex spent his entire career as a player in Scotland so never played in England or the Premier League.

Pep Guardiola won the Premier League six times with Manchester City.  Guardiola spent most of his playing career with Barcelona and never played for an English club.

Jose Mourinho won the Premier League three times with Chelsea. Mourinho only had a short playing career, all of which was in Portugal.

Arsene Wenger won the Premier League three times with Arsenal. Wenger spent his playing career in France.

Including Arteta and Mancini, the remaining managers who have won the Premier League have done so only once.

They are: Carlo Ancelotti, Antonio Conte and Claudio Ranieri
– who all only played in Italy; Manuel Pellegrini – who spent his playing career in Chile; Jurgen Klopp – who played in Germany; Arne Slot – who played in the Netherlands.

Sir Kenny Dalglish is the final manager to have won the Premier League, scooping the trophy in the 1994/95 season. Sir Kenny played in the top flight of English football with Liverpool. However he had retired from playing by the time the first Premier League season started in August 1992.

Links

Post on Facebook (archived screenshot)

Premier League – Every manager to win a title in Premier League history (archived)

Leicester City In 100 Players: Roberto Mancini (archived)

National Football Museum – Sir Alex Ferguson (archived)

Britannica – Pep Guardiola (archived)

Priceless.com – Jose Mourinho (archived)

UEFA – Arsene Wenger (archived)

Britannica – Carlo Ancelotti (archived)

UEFA – Antonio Conte (archived)

Transfermarkt – Claudio Ranieri (archived)

UEFA – Manuel Pellegrini (archived)

Bundesliga – Jurgen Klopp (archived)

Liverpool FC – Arne Slot (archived)

National Football Museum – Kenny Dalglish (archived)

Premier League – Origins and history (archived)

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