Now official 

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Bournemouth have found a replacement for Andoni Iraola. Earlier this month, Iraola announced that he will leave the Premier League club at the conclusion of the 2025/26 season. In his stead, the Cherries have hired German head coach Marco Rose. The 49-year-old has signed a three-year contract as of July 1, 2026. “Everyone at AFC Bournemouth looks forward to welcoming Marco to Vitality Stadium as he begins his role as head coach in the summer,” a brief statement on the Bournemouth club site 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,” the statement added. Indeed, the timing of the appointment comes at a bit of an awkward time as Bournemouth are still pushing for a European spot in the league.

Rose has been available since last March when he was relieved by RB Leipzig at the tail end of the 2024/25 season. At the time, Rose’s side was struggling and had fallen out of the Champions League spots in the Bundesliga. Firing Rose, however, didn’t work; Leipzig would miss European football altogether for the first time since being promoted ahead of the 2016/17 season. Among permanent Leipzig managers, only Ralph Hasenhüttl and Jesse Marsch had a worse record than Rose’s 1.85 points per game.

Marco Rose: Klopp school and Red Bull background

Indeed, it did feel like that. Rose, a Leipzig native, struggled with the big personalities in the Leipzig dressing room towards the end of his time at Red Bull. After all, the club not only fired Rose but also cleared out many players. Xavi Simons (Tottenham) and Loïs Openda (Juventus) are among them. It suggests that Leipzig’s struggles weren’t just Rose’s fault. But there is also a track record of difficult endings.

Rose left Gladbach in 2021 under controversial circumstances to take the Dortmund job. There, Rose would last just one season. Even though the Black and Yellows didn’t have a bad season, the Dortmund bosses decided to go a different direction at the end of the season, replacing Rose with Edin Terzić. The reason was a lack of strategic alignment on the club’s direction going forward.

There are some positives. Rose did learn from Jürgen Klopp during his time as a player at 1. FSV Mainz. He also worked as an assistant manager there under Thomas Tuchel. Then Rose moved to Red Bull Salzburg, where he became the manager in 2017. Rose would average 2.35 points per game with the Austrians and win the Austrian Bundesliga twice. Bournemouth will, therefore, be his second stint abroad and an opportunity to repair a coaching career that, after failed tenures in Dortmund and Leipzig, has been under scrutiny in Germany.