Real Madrid have named Jose Mourinho as their new head coach on a three-year contract, marking a dramatic return to the Spanish capital for the 63-year-old Portuguese manager after 13 years away.
Mourinho takes over from Alvaro Arbeloa following Madrid’s second consecutive season without a major trophy, as the club fell behind arch-rivals Barcelona.
Real Madrid have reached an agreement to appoint Jose Mourinho as the first team’s head coach for the next three seasons, until June 30, 2029,” the 15-time European champions announced in a statement. Mourinho will officially begin his tenure on July 13, coinciding with the start of preseason training.
One of the most successful—and polarizing—figures in world football, Mourinho arrives from Benfica, where he recently led the club through an unbeaten league campaign that, nonetheless, ended with a third-place finish. Benfica confirmed that Madrid paid €15 million ($17.25 million) in compensation for Mourinho’s release.
Mourinho previously managed Real Madrid from 2010 to 2013, steering the team to La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Spanish Super Cup titles during a fiercely competitive era against Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. Under Mourinho, Madrid became the first team to reach 100 points in a single La Liga season in 2011-12, a feat Barcelona matched the following year before Mourinho’s departure.
His first spell was marked by a divided dressing room, with players like Arbeloa strongly backing him, while others clashed with his demanding style. Now, Mourinho returns with the task of restoring discipline and harmony after a turbulent season marred by internal conflicts—including a hospital visit for midfielder Fede Valverde following a dispute with teammate Aurelien Tchouameni, and ongoing challenges integrating stars Vinicius Junior, Kylian Mbappe, and Jude Bellingham.
Madrid president Florentino Perez, recently re-elected, has long credited Mourinho for laying the foundations of the club’s six recent Champions League triumphs, and expressed his desire to bring him back during a television appearance in May.
Mourinho’s return signals his re-emergence among Europe’s elite after several years away from the top tier. He first captured the spotlight by winning the Champions League with Porto in 2004, then claimed back-to-back Premier League titles with Chelsea, and led Inter Milan to a historic treble in 2010. Appointed by Perez to challenge Guardiola’s dominant Barcelona, Mourinho’s intense rivalry with the Catalan side left its mark on both club and Spanish national teams.
After leaving Madrid, Mourinho returned to Chelsea and won another Premier League title in 2015, then had mixed spells with Manchester United—winning the EFL Cup and Europa League in 2017—Tottenham, and Roma, where he lifted the Conference League trophy in 2022. Most recently, he was dismissed by Fenerbahce in August 2025 after failing to progress past Benfica in Champions League qualifiers, before taking over at Benfica the following month.
