Premier League: West Ham appoints Julen Lopetegui as head coach
Premier League side West Ham United announced the appointment of Julen Lopetegui as the club’s new head coach in a press release on Thursday.
The former Spain, Porto, Real Madrid, Sevilla and Wolverhampton Wanderers coach will officially begin work with the Hammers on July 1.
He replaces former manager David Moyes who said he will be leaving at the end of the 2023/24 season.
“My ambition as a coach is always to be better , to achieve more and bigger aims and to encourage and improve the players, the team, and to compete because football is about this – to compete,” said the newly appointed coach.
He started his football career as a goalkeeper and played 149 La Liga matches, representing Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Spaniard started working as a manager in 2003 and spent a considerable number of years coaching Spain’s youth teams, leading the under-19 and under-21 sides to European titles.
Lopetegui was Wolverhampton Wanderers’ head coach from November 2022 to August 2023. Bottom of the table when he joined, he went on to lead the side to a 13th-place finish.
The 56-year-old was manager of Sevilla before joining Wolves, leading it into the UEFA Champions League and winning the Europa League in 2019/20.