Bournemouth announce new manager after Andoni Iraola confirms exit

Ben McCaffrey
Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:10:58 +0000

Bournemouth have announced their new manager for the 2025/26 season, after current boss Andoni Iraola confirmed he would leave the club at the end of the campaign.

Marco Rose, 49, is set to join the Cherries on a three-year deal after the end of the current Premier League season, the club revealed.

"Everyone at AFC Bournemouth looks forward to welcoming Marco to Vitality Stadium as he begins his role as head coach in the summer," an official statement from Bournemouth read.

"The club's immediate focus remains firmly on finishing the current campaign as strongly as possible, with the players and staff continuing to show full commitment to achieving positive results and building on the current 13-game unbeaten run."

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Rose was one of three candidates considered by the club, who currently sit eighth in the Premier League, along with Ipswich Town's Kieran McKenna and Rayo Vallecano's Inigo Perez.

The former Borussia Dortmund coach, who has never managed in England before, arrives on the south coast with pedigree from the German Bundesliga.

Rose began his coaching career in Austria with Red Bull Salzburg, where he won the league twice in a row and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League.

He would later manage Borussia Monchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund, before joining RB Leipzig in 2022.

It was there the coach would win both Germany's domestic cup competition, the DFB Pokal, and the German Super Cup.

Rose was sacked by the German club in March 2025, and has been without a job since.

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The news comes after current boss Iraola announced he was departing the club after the expiry of his contract in June.

The Spaniard has done a remarkable at the Vitality during his three-year stay.

Last campaign, the 43-year-old guided the club to their highest-ever points tally, 56, and a joint-highest finish of ninth place.

Following a brilliant 2024/25 season that resulted in plaudits from across the globe, Bournemouth were targeted by some of Europe's elite clubs, who came swooping in for their star talent.

Django Outtara (£37million, to Brentford), Milos Kerkez (£40m, to Liverpool), Dean Huijsen (£54m, to Real Madrid) and Ilya Zabarnyi (£55m, to PSG) all left the club, while top scorer Antoine Semenyo was snapped up by Pep Guardiola's Manchester City in January.

He currently sits third in the Premier League top goalscorers for this season, and could prove to be a pivotal buy in Manchester City's late title charge.

Despite this, Bournemouth find themselves eighth in the league, which would represent their best-ever finish, and are level on points with sixth-place Chelsea and Brentford, in seventh.

Iraola also masterminded recent away victories at Arsenal and Newcastle.

They next face Leeds United at the Vitality on Wednesday evening.