On Thursday, Real Madrid officially announced that José Mourinho will be their new head coach. The Portuguese manager has signed a three-year contract, marking his second stint with the club.
Late Tuesday evening, Benfica Lisbon announced that José Mourinho would be leaving the club. The Royal Club is paying 15 million euros for the Portuguese coach, who had agreed to the move. Thus, the new Real coach—who had been an open secret for weeks—was officially confirmed.
Two days later, Real Madrid has now also officially announced the return. “The Real Madrid board of directors, which met today, Thursday, June 11, under the chairmanship of Florentino Pérez, has decided to appoint José Mourinho as head coach of the first team for the next three seasons, through June 30, 2029,” reads a statement from the club.
Mourinho will begin his work in Madrid on July 13, the day the Real pros start their preparations for the upcoming season. Of course, the team won’t be complete yet; most of the World Cup players are likely to still be absent at that point.
Mourinho to lead Real back to former glory
A difficult task awaits Mourinho, as he is more or less facing a shambles. The Royals failed to win a single title last season, lagged far behind FC Barcelona, and found themselves embroiled in a few off-field controversies. Perez & Co. now see the Portuguese coach as the man to pick up the pieces and lead the proud Blancos back to their former strength.
The 63-year-old is already very familiar with his new workplace; between 2010 and 2013, Mourinho spent three years working in the Spanish capital. During that time, he led the Royals to the Spanish league title, the Spanish Cup, and the Spanish Super Cup. “The Special One” is expected to lead the Royals back to such heights as quickly as possible. Of course, with a club like Real, it’s always about the Champions League, where their run ended in the quarterfinals against Bayern this season. The seasoned coach has already won the trophy twice (with Porto and Inter Milan).
