In recent times, football club owners have been embracing the culture of employing younger players to manage their teams. Such a trend is made possible because history has shown that the youngest coaches in the game can go ahead and beat older managers and more experienced coaches in the game.
This trend has been reoccurring in the most prestigious club football competition in the world, the UEFA Champions League. When a football manager qualifies a team to play in the competition, it is always seen as an achievement, hence, any progress a club makes in the competition is counted as a big honor.
Hence, it is not a mere feat for a young coach to confront older coaches from the group stage of the competition and maintain such a run until the semi-finals stage. Though most of the younger football managers are knocked out at this stage of the competition, yet, there are records of very young football managers that have gone all the way to win the competition.
Below is a list of top Youngest Coaches to Reach UEFA Champions League Semi-finals
- David O’Leary – 43-year-old
David O’Leary led Premier League side Leeds United to finish in the semi-final stage of the UEFA Champions League during the 2000-2001 season. The former Republic of Ireland international who is now 62-year-old was just 43-year-old when he achieved this feat. He last managed Al-Ahli, a United Arab Emirates professional association football club based in Dubai.
- Jean Tigana – 43-year-old
Jean Tigana became one of the youngest coaches to take a club to the semi-finals stage of the UEFA Champions League. The 65-year-old former Republic of Ireland international achieved this feat when he was the manager of French Ligue 1 side AS Monaco during the 1997-1998 season. The last football club he managed was a Chinese Super League club Shanghai Shenhua in 2012.
- Leonardo Jardim – 43-year-old
Leonardo Jardim became one of the youngest coaches to take a football club to the UEFA Champions League semi-finals. He achieved this feat during the 2016-2017 season. The 46-year-old Portuguese football manager achieved this feat with Monaco when he was 43-year-old. He is still managing the French Ligue 1 club to date.
- Juan Roman Rocha – 43-year-old
Juan Roman Rocha became one of the youngest football managers to take a club to the semi-finals stage of the Champions League during the 1995–1996 season. The Greek tactician who is now 66-year-old achieved this feat with a Greek club Panathinaikos when he was 43-year-old. The Argentine tactician is still a coach in Greece to date. He is the current manager of Thesprotos.
- Roberto Di Matteo Aston Villa – 42-year-old
Roberto Di Matteo stunned the world in 2012 when he was promoted from Chelsea’s assistant coach to the head coach of the club. In the 2011-2012 season where Chelsea were struggling, Di Matteo came in and turned things around. He miraculously pushed the club to the semi-finals stage of the competition when he was just 42-year-old. He didn’t stop there, he went as far as winning the Champions League against Bayern Munich in their own backyard. The Italian tactician who is now 50-year-old is the current coach of Aston Villa.
- Jose Mourinho Portugal Tottenham Hotspur – 41-year-old
Jose Mourinho joined the league of youngest coaches to ever take a club to the semi-finals stage of the Champions League during the 2003-2004 season while at Portuguese club Porto. He didn’t end there, he went as far as the finals of the competition and conquered the tournament to announce himself as one of the brightest names in the game. The 57-year-old Portuguese tactician achieved this feat when he was 41-year-old. He is currently the manager of Tottenham Hotspur.
- Pep Guardiola – 38-year-old
Pep Guardiola is not just one of the youngest coaches to ever take a football club to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League, he is the youngest coach to ever win the competition. The 49-year-old Spanish football manager who is regarded as one of the greatest managers in the world achieved this feat during the 2008-2009 season when he was 38-year-old. He bagged this success at Barcelona. He is currently the manager of Manchester City.
- Didier Deschamps France 51 35.
Didier Deschamps joined the league of the youngest coaches that took a football club as far as the semi-finals stage of the UEFA Champions League during the 2012-2013 season. He achieved this feat at a French Ligue 1 club Monaco. Though he made it to the finals, he failed to win the title. The 51-year-old former France international was 35-year-old when he arrived at this feat. He is currently the manager of France national team.
- Luis Fernandez – 35-year-old
Luis Fernandez gave Paris Saint-Germain an opportunity to play in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League during the 1994-1995 season. The 60-year-old Spanish/French tactician was 35-year-old when he achieved this feat. The last coaching job he had was a national team job in Guinea, West Africa. He has been out of coaching since 2016.
- Julan Nagelsmann – 33-year-old
The latest entry into this list is 33-year-old German tactician Julan Nagelsmann. He took German Bundesliga club, RB Leipzig, that was founded just 11 years ago to their first Champions League competition. The German tactician didn’t just participate, he took the club all the way to the semi-finals of the competition in the just concluded 2019-2020 season.
