Paris Saint-Germain’s rise to the summit of European football cannot be told without Luis Enrique. After guiding the club to its second UEFA Champions League title, the Spanish manager has cemented his place among the competition’s greatest coaches.

AMONG THE ALL-TIME GREATS

With PSG’s back-to-back Champions League triumphs in 2025 and 2026, added to the title he won with Barcelona in 2015, Luis Enrique now ranks alongside Pep Guardiola, Bob Paisley and Zinedine Zidane as the second-most successful managers in the history of Europe’s premier club competition with three titles.

Only Carlo Ancelotti, with five Champions League titles, stands above them. Like Luis Enrique, both Paisley and Zidane also achieved consecutive European crowns.

He is also only the second Spanish coach to win back-to-back European Cups, following José Villalonga, who accomplished the feat with Real Madrid in the 1950s.

LUIS ENRIQUE’S PARISIAN LEGACY

The former Spain national team manager arrived in Paris to build something lasting—and he has done exactly that.

This latest triumph marked his 12th trophy from 15 possible competitions, giving him a remarkable success rate of more than 73.6 percent across three seasons with the club.

His trophy haul with PSG now includes two Champions League titles, three Ligue 1 championships, one Intercontinental Cup, one UEFA Super Cup, three Trophée des Champions crowns and two Coupe de France trophies.

Under his leadership, PSG have experienced the most successful era in the club’s history.

Only three competitions slipped through his hands.

The most notable setback came at the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, where PSG suffered a 3-0 defeat to Chelsea in the final in New Jersey. The loss also drew criticism toward Luis Enrique for losing his composure after the match.

He also fell short in the 2025-26 Coupe de France, as PSG were eliminated by Paris FC in the Round of 32.

His first Champions League campaign with PSG also ended in disappointment, with Borussia Dortmund knocking the French side out in the semifinals. In hindsight, however, it served as a preview of the dominance that would soon follow.

HIS GREATEST ACHIEVEMENT

Numerous PSG players have described Luis Enrique as a father figure or mentor.

His influence on the squad has been profound. Rather than relying on blockbuster signings and lavish spending, he chose to build around a stable core and place trust in players whose futures at the club were once uncertain.

Examples include Matvei Safonov, Achraf Hakimi, Lucas Beraldo, Willian Pacho, Désiré Doué, Gonçalo Ramos and Ousmane Dembélé.

Dembélé's transformation stands out above all. Once criticized for inconsistent form and declining value during his time at Barcelona, he became one of PSG’s leaders, ultimately winning both the Ballon d’Or and FIFA The Best awards while helping drive the club to multiple titles.

Combined with the confidence he placed in less-publicized stars such as Marquinhos, Vitinha, João Neves, Nuno Mendes and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Luis Enrique assembled one of the strongest squads in world football and propelled PSG to the top of the game.

HIS WORDS SAY IT ALL

“I’ve only seen Real Madrid do something like this before, so I don’t really know how it feels. The first title was historic. The second one will be even more so.

“Paris and PSG needed to join the group of the very best clubs, and now we don’t want to leave it. We want to stay there by continuing to identify ourselves through a style of play that people enjoy watching.

“It has taken a tremendous amount of work, but right now things are going our way in Paris, and sometimes that helps. When someone truly enjoys what they do, it doesn’t feel like work.

“In fact, I have to tell these players to stop training. This team will compete again next year, and the level will be extremely high. When you love what you do, nothing feels difficult.”

The words of PSG’s mastermind only reinforce what the trophies already prove: Luis Enrique has become one of the defining managers of his generation.

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