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Real Madrid have named Alvaro Arbeloa as their new head coach after the club left the football fraternity in shock by sacking Xabi Alonso less than 24 hours after they lost a hard-fought El Clásico to Barcelona by a 3-2 margin in the final of the Spanish Super Cup in Jeddah.
While Alonso's job had come under threat in recent weeks, the move has come as a surprise, as Alonso took charge only in June 2025 before the Club World Cup. The 2025-26 season is his first campaign in charge of the team, and he has a decent record with 24 wins in 34 games and a win percentage of 70.59%. The club are on course to secure a top-eight finish in the Champions League first round while being only four points behind Barcelona in the league.
Who Is Alvaro Arbeloa?
Arbeloa has been named as the head coach immediately, and the Copa Del Rey clash against Albacete on Wednesday will be his first game in charge of the club. This will also be his job as a coach in senior football.
Arbeloa is a well-known footballer who came from the club's Castilla academy, where he spent three years after joining in 2001 at the age of 18. Earlier, he spent the first six years of his football career, from 1995 to 2001, at Zaragoza. Like his managerial career, Arbeloa's career began when he made his debut as a player in 2004. However, he made just four appearances before leaving the club for Deportivo La Coruna, where he spent two years. In January 2007, the right-back moved to Liverpool and spent three seasons before returning to Madrid in 2009.
He stayed with Los Blancos till 2016. During his tenure, he made 233 appearances for the club and won one La Liga title, two Champions League and Copa Del Rey titles.
He played 56 games for Spain and was part of the Iker Casillas-led team, which won the 2010 FIFA World Cup as well as the 2008 and 2012 Euros.
He retired from football after a year at West Ham in 2017.
He started his coaching in 2020 after joining Madrid's academy and was involved in various roles. In 2022-23, he coached the Juvenil A (u-19 team) to the domestic treble. This marked the first instance of this happening in the history of the club. Ahead of the 2025-26 season, he replaced Raul as Castilla's (B team) head coach. In 19 games, he led the team to 10 wins, 1 draw, and 9 losses.
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Aayush Kataria is a Senior Copy Editor at Times Network with four years of experience, having started his career in the organisation. He is a key memb... View More