Official: Raúl to become new head coach at Oviedo

Raúl is to become the new manager of Spanish second-tier side Real Oviedo. The northern Spanish club announced the signing of the Real Madrid legend on a contract running until June 2028. Raúl is set to make his debut as early as Saturday.

It was only on Monday morning that Real Oviedo parted ways with their previous head coach, Julian Calero. A few hours later, Oviedo announced the appointment of Raúl. The 48-year-old has signed a contract running until June 2028.

Son Hector plays for Oviedo’s reserve team

At Oviedo, Raúl could now find himself coaching his own son. The 20-year-old Héctor joined Oviedo this summer, but has so far only featured for the reserve side, Oviedo Vetusta.

Raúl played for Real Madrid between 1994 and 2010 and won every major trophy in club football with Los Blancos. After leaving the ‘Royals’, he joined Schalke 04 for two years, winning the DFB-Pokal with the ‘Royal Blues’ in 2011.

Other clubs he played for included Al-Sadd Sports Club and New York Cosmos. Raúl made 102 international appearances for Spain, scoring 44 goals – only David Villa (59 goals) has scored more for La Roja.

After retiring as a player, Raúl began his coaching career at Real Madrid. Initially in the youth setup, he led the Under-19s to victory in the Youth League in 2020. For the past six years, he has been in charge of the reserve side, Castilla. He is now taking up his first coaching role outside Real Madrid.

Already trailing significantly behind the direct promotion places

Raúl will be officially presented by Real Oviedo on Tuesday; until then, he will not be making any statements. Raúl will make his debut on the Oviedo bench as early as next Saturday evening (9.00 pm) in the upcoming league fixture against fellow relegated side FC Girona. Like Girona, Oviedo have collected 21 points from their 13 league matches so far; they are just one point away from the promotion play-off places. However, the top two places, which guarantee direct promotion to La Liga, are already six and eight points away respectively. It is now up to Raúl to make up this deficit by next summer.