Italian Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was voted the Coach of the Year after guiding the Spanish giants to victory in the 2021/22 Champions League.
Los Merengues defeated English side Liverpool 1-0 in May, and the triumph in Paris, France, was the Italian tactician’s fourth victory in the competition as a coach.
Ancelotti was selected as the winner, beating Reds coach Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola, whose Manchester City side were eliminated by Real Madrid in the semi-finals.
The UEFA awards winners for 2021/22 were announced at the Champions League draw on Thursday evening in Istanbul, Turkey, where the final for the 2022/23 edition will be played, and it was an eventual night for Real Madrid
In addition to Ancelotti being chosen as the Men’s Coach of the Year for 2021/22, his star striker Karim Benzema was selected as the Men’s Player of the Year after scoring 15 goals in the Champions League last season.
Ancelotti wins award after fourth Champions League win
Presenting the award to Ancelotti was a unanimous choice after he became the first man to have won four Champions League titles as a coach, having won two at AC Milan in the 2000s and then won another two with Los Merengues.
Ancelotti won his first Champions League title as coach in 2003 when AC Milan defeated Juventus on penalties in the first all-Italian final in the competition and his second came four years later against Liverpool, getting revenge for the defeat to the English giants in 2005.
The Italian coach won the trophy in his first stint with Real Madrid in 2014 after Los Merengues defeated city rivals Atletico Madrid 4-1 after extra time, and he returned to the Spanish club in June 2021, going to win La Liga as well as the Champions League.
Prior to becoming a coach, the 63-year-old had won the old European Cup twice as a player with AC Milan, winning back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990.
Arrigo Sacchi, who coached Ancelotti in those teams, was also presented with the 2022 UEFA President’s Award in recognition of his work as Rossoneri tactician.
