Josep 'Pep' Guardiola is one of the most successful managers in football history. The Spaniard has won 35 trophies during his time being the manager of FC Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and Manchester City. He recently became the only manager to win the continental treble twice, achieving the feat with both Barcelona and Man City.
Guardiola has won the league titles multiple times in three different countries and has multiple other individual and collective accolades to his name. In short, he is one of the greatest managers football has ever seen.
The former Barcelona midfielder is fondly referred to as Pep by his peers and the footballing world alike, but why?
Here GOAL explains the reasons behind the nickname of one of football's most iconic managers.
In Spain, Pep is short for the name Josep, hence why people refer to Guardiola by his nickname. The former Spain international was known by Josep and Pep at times during his playing days, but he has almost always been called Pep since becoming a coach.
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Pep's father Valenti Guardiola also weighed in on this and revealed his nickname at home. "We always call him Jose,” Pep’s father told Cronica El Mundo, via Marca, in 2017. “There’s nothing of Pep. He said to his mother one day, ‘Here at home I am Jose," he added.
In the same way that Joe is used as a nickname for people called Joseph in England, Jose is a shortened version of Josep in Spain. The reason behind the nickname of one of the most complex footballing brains is relatively simple.
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