Andoni Iraola

Andoni Iraola is Liverpool's head coach, appointed on 4 June 2026 after Arne Slot's departure at the end of the 2025/26 season. A Basque from Usurbil, he spent almost all of his playing career as a right-back at Athletic Club, where he made more than 500 appearances across a dozen seasons, before finishing at New York City FC.

As a coach he built a reputation for intense, high-pressing football, first at AEK Larnaca in Cyprus, then at Mirandés, whom he took to a Copa del Rey semi-final from the second tier, and Rayo Vallecano, whom he promoted to La Liga and kept there. Bournemouth appointed him in 2023, and three seasons on the south coast turned a side that had been fighting relegation into a settled top-half team, built on aggressive pressing, quick transitions and a demanding physical load.

Liverpool hired him to bring that intensity to Anfield. His teams run further and press higher than most, and the trade-off, which he acknowledges openly, is that the approach asks a great deal of players across a three-game week.