Guardiola expected to leave City after this season with Maresca to take over, according to reports

MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Pep Guardiola’s record-breaking, 10-year tenure at Manchester City might be coming to a close, according to reports in the British media.

City wouldn’t comment on stories from outlets including national broadcaster the BBC and the Daily Mail that the 55-year-old Guardiola is expected to leave the club at the end of this season. He has a year left on his contract.

Enzo Maresca, the former Chelsea manager who was previously assistant to Guardiola at City, is the leading contender to take over, according to the BBC. There was no immediate response from Maresca’s representatives when contacted by The Associated Press.

Guardiola, who has won 17 major trophies at City since arriving in English soccer in 2016, has repeatedly been asked in recent weeks whether he would be staying at City beyond this season.

On Monday, he rolled his eyes when another question was posed about his future and answered: “I’ve said so many times, I have one more year.”

In overseeing the most successful period in City’s history in his decade in charge, Guardiola has spent longer at the club than he did at Barcelona (2008-12) and Bayern Munich (2013-16).

His biggest achievement at City has been winning the Premier League-Champions League-FA Cup treble in the 2022-23 season, emulating the feat of Manchester United in 1999.

Guardiola’s City team has won the Premier League six times and became the only team in the nearly 140-year history of English soccer to win four top-flight league titles in a row (2021-24), the first team to earn 100 points in a top-flight season (2017-18), and the first team to win the domestic treble of the league, FA Cup and League Cup in the same season (2018-19).

This season, City has won both the League Cup and FA Cup and is second behind Arsenal in the Premier League, needing to beat Bournemouth on Tuesday to keep the title race going until the final round on Sunday. City is five points behind Arsenal.

Guardiola has also changed the face of English soccer in general, bringing a style of football — a possession-based approach that started with playing the ball out from the goalkeeper or defense — that ended up being mimicked across the country, from kids’ teams at grassroots level to rival teams in the Premier League.

Asked Monday if he thought a stand at City’s Etihad Stadium should be named after him, Guardiola said: “The important thing in our lives is when you look back, you can say, ‘Wow.’ You can look with a big smile and (say) that was good."

“I am pretty sure,” he added, “most of the people who lived this time together can feel that.”

The final years of Guardiola’s time at City has been under something of a cloud, with the club currently involved in a huge legal case with the Premier League. City was charged by the league in February 2023 with more than 100 financial breaches, including providing misleading information about its sources of income.

The case was heard by an independent commission between September and December in 2024 but no verdict has been reached.

Punishment could be as extreme as expulsion from the top flight. City has always denied the charges and Guardiola has said he is “fully convinced that we will be innocent.”

It has been four-and-a-half months since Maresca left Chelsea following an apparent deterioration in the Italian's relationship with the club's hierarchy during a period when English media were already reporting that he had been lined up as Guardiola's eventual replacement at City.

Maresca played down those reports at the time.

He knows City well, having been its academy coach in the 2020-21 season and Guardiola's assistant in 2022-23 when the team won the treble. After that, Maresca joined Leicester, which he led to the title in the second-tier Championship.

Maresca's only top-flight experience as a senior coach has been his 18 months with Chelsea from June 2024 to January 2026, during which the London team won the Club World Cup and Conference League titles and also qualified for the Champions League.

Douglas reported from Sundsvall, Sweden.

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer

FILE - Then Chelsea's head coach Enzo Maresca stands on the sideline during the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Bournemouth in London, England, Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung, File)

FILE - Then Chelsea's head coach Enzo Maresca reacts during the Champions League opening phase soccer match between Atalanta and Chelsea, in Bergamo, Italy, Dec. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Antonio Calanni, File)

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola greets fans before the English FA Cup final soccer match between Chelsea and Manchester City in London, Saturday, May 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Pelham)

Manchester City's head coach Pep Guardiola greets fans at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester City and Crystal Palace in Manchester, England, Wednesday, May 13, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Hodgson)

LONDON (AP) — Broadcaster Channel 4 has pulled all episodes of “Married at First Sight UK” from its platforms after three contestants claimed they were sexually assaulted by on-screen partners on the matchmaking reality show.

The broadcaster said the allegations are “very serious,” and the British government said Tuesday there must be “consequences for criminality or wrongdoing.”

“Married at First Sight” is an international reality TV franchise inspired by a Danish original, with editions in countries including the U.S., Australia and South Africa. Strangers are matched by experts and move in together after mock wedding ceremonies.

Two women who appeared on the British show say they were raped by their on-screen husbands, and a third claims she was subjected to a nonconsensual sexual act.

The claims were made during an investigation by the BBC current affairs program “Panorama.” The BBC said the claimants have not contacted the police, and the men involved dispute the allegations.

Conservative lawmaker Caroline Dinenage, who heads the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee, told the BBC that the show clearly involves “an element of risk.”

“It’s a TV show that almost expects and anticipates people that have only just met will have to become really quite intimate with each other,” she told the BBC. “They’re expected to share a bed and a life together within minutes of meeting. It almost feels like an accident waiting to happen.”

The U.K. version of the program is made by independent production company CPL. It has run for 10 seasons on Channel 4, with an 11th scheduled for broadcast this year. CPL did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The broadcaster said the show is produced under “some of the most comprehensive and robust welfare protocols in the industry,” including background checks, a code of conduct setting out behavioral standards and “daily contributor check-ins with a specialist welfare team.”

It has ordered a review of its welfare standards and procedures.

“I want to express my sympathy to contributors who have clearly been distressed after taking part in ‘Married at First Sight UK,’” Channel 4 chief executive Priya Dogra said. “The well-being of our contributors is always of paramount importance.”

The claims are the latest incident to spark debate in Britain about the ethics of reality TV and the pressures placed on participants. Two former contestants on the show “Love Island” died by suicide in 2018 and 2019 and the show’s former presenter, Caroline Flack, took her own life in 2020.

Controversies also have roiled the BBC, Britain’s publicly funded national broadcaster. The BBC introduced chaperones on the dance competition “Strictly Come Dancing” after allegations of bullying and harassment in 2024. The hosts of cooking contest “MasterChef,” Gregg Wallace and John Torode, were fired last year after investigations into allegations of inappropriate behavior.

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story includes discussion of sexual violence. If you or someone you know needs help, please call 1-800-656-4673 in the U.S.

FILE - General view at the entrance of the Channel 4 Headquarters in London, on April 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein, File)