Luis Enrique: the coach who took PSG to the top of the world

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·18 December 2025

Luis Enrique: the coach who took PSG to the top of the world

PSG is a club that loves numbers... but truly respects them only when they tell a story. On December 17, 2025, in Doha, Luis Enrique just delivered a perfect one: another trophy, a tense final snatched against Flamengo (1-1, 2-1 on penalties), and this symbolic milestone that elevates a coach into another category, his 100th victory on the Parisian bench. In Paris, we've known coaches who win a lot, coaches who last, coaches who charm. Rarer are those who change the status of the club. And if we put aside the noise, style preferences, and faction debates, one question arises: where to place Luis Enrique in PSG's history, between the raw output of the big names of the QSI era and the "foundational" imprint of legendary coaches?

Luis ENRIQUE head Coach of Paris Saint-Germain and Nasser AL-KHELAIFI President of Paris Saint-Germain during the FIFA Intercontinental Cup 2025 Final match between Paris and Flamengo at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium on December 17, 2025 in Doha, Qatar. (Photo by Baptiste Fernandez/Icon Sport) – Photo by Icon Sport

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Luis Enrique in PSG's history: the coach who transformed a "project" into an empire (and just signed his 100th victory)

PSG has had winning coaches, "transition" coaches, "star" coaches, "idea" coaches. But few leave a clear, readable, undeniable mark. Luis Enrique is settling into that category, not because he has good communication or a prestigious CV before Paris, but because the 2025 version of PSG has shifted from a national giant to an international reference.

And on December 17, 2025, the scene is perfect to engrave the story: victory in the Intercontinental Cup final against Flamengo (1-1, 2-1 on penalties), sixth trophy of the calendar year, and above all, a symbolic milestone that speaks to everyone, even those who hate tactical debates: Luis Enrique's 100th victory on the PSG bench.

You may or may not like his style. You can debate his choices. But you can't pretend anymore: his tenure is already a major chapter in the club's history.

December 17, 2025: a world title, a tense match, a coach who wins "even when it's ugly"

PSG defeated Flamengo after a nerve-wracking match. Final score: 1-1 after extra time, then a 2-1 Parisian victory on penalties.
Paris opened the scoring with Kvaratskhelia (38th minute).
Flamengo equalized with a penalty converted by Jorginho.
And the penalty shootout became the episode where PSG shifted from "favorite" to "killer": Matvey Safonov delivered an outstanding performance by saving four attempts.

It's not the most brilliant final of the year. But that's precisely why it counts in the argument of "Luis Enrique in PSG's history". Great teams aren't great because they win when everything is smooth: they are great because they know how to win when it's tough, when it resists, when it's played with soul and composure.

And this trophy is not isolated: it locks in an extraordinary year 2025.

The 2025 sextuple: the season when Paris stopped being "a rich club" to become "a reference club"

PSG's 2025 calendar year reads like a collection of stamps on a passport of domination:

Ligue 1
Coupe de France
Trophée des Champions
Champions League
UEFA Super Cup
Intercontinental Cup (against Flamengo, December 17)

Six titles in a calendar year is extremely rare. And in a club like Paris, long judged on Europe more than France, it changes the internal hierarchy of coaches. Because some coaches had very strong domestic seasons. Very few had a season that places you on the world map with stabilization behind it.

The most important thing here is the meaning of the word "history". PSG's history is not just about stacking cups: it's about changing status. Luis Enrique is associated with this transformation.

LEVERKUSEN, GERMANY – OCTOBER 21: Luis Enrique, Head Coach of Paris Saint-Germain, reacts during the UEFA Champions League 2025/26 League Phase MD3 match between Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Paris Saint-Germain at BayArena on October 21, 2025 in Leverkusen, Germany. (Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images)

The numbers: 100 victories, 142 matches, and a ratio that places him very high (without cheating)

Let's be clear: numbers are a tool, not a slogan.

As of December 17, 2025, Luis Enrique totals:

142 matches managed at PSG
100 victories
23 draws
19 defeats
2.27 points per match
≈ 70.4% victories (100/142)

A useful methodological point: according to some bases, a match won on penalties can be recorded as a "draw" on the score (after extra time) or as a "victory" in the "qualification result" record. Here, referring to the "100th victory" corresponds to the record that counts the final result of the competition (including penalty shootouts).

This ratio, in Paris, is very strong. But history is also played in comparison, and there, it becomes interesting.

Comparison with "legendary" coaches: who dominated in ratio, who marks history?

We tend to mix two debates:

"Who wins the most often?", "Who changed the club's destiny?". The two don't always give the same podium.

Here is a summary table of major coaches (all competitions, PSG records):

Coach Matches Victories Draws Defeats % victories (approx.) Points/match

Unai Emery 114 matches, 87 victories, 15 draws, and 12 defeats ~76% 2.42 points per match
Thomas Tuchel 127 matches, 96 victories, 11 draws, and 20 defeats ~76% 2.35 points per match
Laurent Blanc 173 matches, 126 victories, 31 draws, and 16 defeats ~73% 2.36 points per match
Luis Enrique 142 matches, 100 victories, 23 draws, and 19 defeats ~70% 2.27 points per match
Luis Fernandez (2 stints) 244 matches, 129 victories, 56 draws, and 59 defeats ~53% 1.65 points per match

Honest reading: Luis Enrique is not number one in pure ratio. Emery and Tuchel do better in percentage. Blanc has a huge volume with very high output. So if we summarize the debate to "who won the most often", Luis Enrique doesn't overshadow everyone.

Except... PSG doesn't rank its coaches solely by win rate. The criterion that changes everything: the historical weight of the titles. In Paris, the killer question has long been: "Okay for Ligue 1, but Europe?"

And that's where Luis Enrique stands out in collective memory: he is the coach of a period where Paris validated the world level and added trophies with another symbolic weight.

This is the point where we must be clear: you can have a 75% win rate and remain a "very good PSG coach". Or you can have a slightly lower ratio... and become a "historic coach" because the club crossed a frontier that no one had crossed before. Luis Enrique is in this second case.

What he changed: the Luis Enrique imprint, beyond trophies

Luis ENRIQUE head coach of PSG celebrates the victory and lift the trophy after the UEFA Champions League 2024/2025, final match between Paris and Inter at Allianz Arena on May 31, 2025 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Johnny Fidelin/Icon Sport) – Photo by Icon Sport

Trophies are the surface. The imprint is the software. A game identity (which doesn't depend on one man).
Luis Enrique's PSG has an obsession: the collective as architecture, not as decor. It doesn't mean Paris no longer has stars. It means stars must fit into a framework. And historically, that's where Paris has sometimes stumbled.
Result: PSG often seems more like a "team", more stable, more coherent in effort. It can win by imposing its tempo... and it can also survive when the match becomes a war of attrition.
A culture of demand (and sometimes frustration)
Critical spirit mandatory: this PSG can also be frustrating. When you constantly seek control, you expose yourself to two classic criticisms:

too many "clean" phases but not sharp enough,
a sense of sterile domination when the opponent defends deep and Paris lacks variety.

And that's where Luis Enrique also plays: his PSG has proven it can be lethal (especially in big meetings), but there are still matches where the machine "plays well" without punishing quickly enough. It's not a fatal flaw, it's the price of a demanding style, but it's a constant area for improvement.

So, what exact place in PSG's history?

Today, we can say without overplaying:

Statistically, Luis Enrique is already among the very top of QSI coaches, even if some had a higher ratio. Historically, he has an asset that history remembers more than anything: a period where Paris established itself at the world summit and stacked major titles, including trophies with international reach.

Symbolically, reaching 100 victories on the night of a world final (Flamengo) reinforces a simple idea: this PSG doesn't win "by accident". It wins by habit. The nuance, because it is healthy: his legend can still grow. If he continues on this trajectory, he can climb very high in longevity rankings, get closer to the most capped coaches... and definitively lock in his status as a "reference coach" in the PSG saga.

But even if everything stopped tomorrow (thought experiment), one fact would remain: he has already done enough to be ranked among the coaches who truly matter.

Conclusion: Luis Enrique is not just a winning coach, he's a founding coach.

PSG has always been a club of excess: excess ambition, excess expectations, excess criticism. In this theater, a coach doesn't survive on elegance. He survives on proof. On December 17, 2025, Luis Enrique added another proof: a world trophy against Flamengo, after a tense match, and a 100th victory that elevates his tenure from "very good" to "historic".

His ratio doesn't overshadow all his predecessors. His style isn't perfect. But PSG's history never demanded a perfect coach. It demanded a decisive coach. And today, Luis Enrique checks that box with almost mathematical insolence.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.