These four Premier League managers share more than a nationality. They’re from the same province

Spain once again showed that are a soccer superpower in the World Cup this summer. A proverbial “footballing factory” that produces not just top class players, but managers as well. One little corner of Spain in particular is responsible for producing four top managers that have been lured away from the Iberian peninsula and are curretly managing Premier League sides.

Gipuzkoa, a manager breeding ground

Four of the twenty teams in the Premier League are being run by managers who are from the same tiny region in the Basque Country. Basque Country is tucked in the north of Spain, between Cantabria and Navarra. The most famous cities of the region are Bilbao, San Sebastián and Vitoria Gasteiz, but one tiny little region is growing in recognition thanks to four brilliant soccer minds that have turned into Premier league mangers.

Gipuzkoa, which stretches around the city limits of San Sebastián, served as the breeding for Mikel Arteta, Unai Emery, Xabi Alonso and Andoni Imanol. All of these current managers had playing careers before becoming coaches, but now that their playing days are over they have reached the top of their profession from their respective touchlines.

The first manager to make his presence felt in the Premier League was Unai Emery. Fourteen years after making his debut as a manager with Lorca Deportiva, the Hondarrbia native was named manager of Arsenal. He spent the 2018/19 season at the Emirates before returning to Spain as Villarreal manager from 2020 to 2022. He has been at Aston Villa since 2022 and in that time he has won his fifth Europa League title (three with Sevilla, one with Villarreal, and one with Aston Villa), all the while finishing top 7 or better in the Premier League.

Alonso joins the club

The next Gipuzkoan manager to grace a Premier League was Mikel Arteta. The San Sebastián native played at Arsenal before joining Man City’s coaching staff under Pep Guardiola. He got the top job at Arsenal in 2019, and since then he has won a two Community Shields, an FA Cup brought the Premier League back to the Emirates for the first time in over two decades and finished runner up in the Champions League this past season.

Arteta, 44, and Xabi Alonso, 44, grew up playing with and against each other when they were kids and now they will be coaching against each other after Alonso was signed by Chelsea this summer. Following a disastrous stint as Real Madrid manager, the Blues were eager to sign the former Bayern Leverkusen boss after a season that saw three different managers patrol the touchline at Stamford Bridge. The Tolossa native led his Bayern Leverkusen side to a Bundesliga title, the DFB Pokal title and the Super Cup in 2024, and finished runners up in the Europa League that same year. Real Madrid came calling but that was a short and turbulent ride in the Spanish capital. Now the former Liverpool midfielder is on the touchline with Chelsea looking to turn things around at The Bridge.

Finally Andoni Iraola, from Usurbil, has made his way up the coaching ranks, starting in Greece with AEK Larnaca, then taking second division side Mirandes to the Copa del Rey semifinals in 2019/2020. Three successful years at Rayo Vallecano in which he sealed promotion for the Madrid based club and led them to the Copa del Rey semis drew the attention of the Premier League. Iraola went to Bournemouth, where he spent three seasons, and just led them to a record best 6th place finish and earned them a spot in the Europa League. Now he will be manning the touchline at Anfield after Liverpool agreed to terms with the Basque manager this summer.

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