Xabi Alonso is no longer coach of Real Madrid. The club has announced that the contract with the 44-year-old has been terminated by mutual agreement. Alvaro Arbeloa will succeed him.
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- In the summer, Xabi Alonso succeeded Carlo Ancelotti as head coach of Real Madrid. After just over seven months, the chapter is already over.
- The club and Xabi Alonso have "mutually agreed" to end his tenure as coach of the first team, Real Madrid announced on Monday evening.
Xabi Alonso, who once played for Real Madrid himself, joined the Whites in the summer of 2025 as Carlo Ancelotti's successor. After just over six months, the contract has now been terminated "by mutual agreement", as the club wrote in a statement.
The succession has already been clarified
Former footballer Alvaro Arbeloa will succeed him. Alongside Alonso, Arbeloa became world champion with Spain in 2010 and also wore the Real jersey from 2009 to 2016. He played a total of 154 games for the club. Arbeloa previously coached Real Madrid's reserve team.
Alonso's dismissal comes one day after the defeat in the final of the Spanish Super Cup. The Madrilenians lost 3:2 to arch-rivals Barcelona. Real Madrid are currently in 2nd place in La Liga, four points behind FC Barcelona. In the Champions League, the club is in 7th place.
Less successful than in Leverkusen
The termination of the contract is the first setback in Alonso's coaching career. He was previously coach of Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen from 2022 to 2025. He celebrated great success there.
In the 2023/2024 season, Alonso coached Leverkusen to the first league title in the club's history. In the same season, Leverkusen also won the DFB Cup.
The Madrilenians had high expectations when they hired their ex-professional as coach. And at first everything looked like a success story: After reaching the semi-finals of the Club World Cup in the summer, Alonso was able to celebrate 13 wins in the first 14 competitive matches at the start of this season. It was the best start to the season the Whites have ever had.
But it was at his former club, Liverpool FC (0:1), in the Champions League at the beginning of November that the Spaniard and his star ensemble began their downward spiral. He was no longer able to turn things around.
