Jose Mourinho will succeed Real Madrid's outgoing interim coach Alvaro Arbeloa, who took over from Xabi Alonso in January. However, Arbeloa was unable to prevent a trophyless season.
In the UEFA Champions League, the record winners were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Bayern Munich. Domestically, they had to concede the title to arch-rivals FC Barcelona, with the Catalans finishing eight points ahead of Real in the final LaLiga standings.
Mourinho most recently coached Benfica, after being dismissed by Turkish runners-up Fenerbahce. His contract in Lisbon was actually set to run until summer 2027 - but thanks to a release clause reportedly worth just three million euros, the move to the Bernabeu was relatively straightforward.
On Friday, transfer expert David Ornstein from The Athletic reported that negotiations between the star coach and Real had been successful. According to the report, Mourinho has signed a three-year contract. His annual salary is rumored to be 12 million euros gross.
This is Mourinho's second spell in Madrid. Between 2010 and 2013, he was in charge of the Galacticos, achieving an average of 2.3 points per game in 178 competitive matches - and in his debut season 2010/11, he won the Spanish league title. However, the hoped-for triumph in the Champions League eluded him.
Real Madrid are currently in a sporting crisis. Alonso was brought in last summer as a beacon of hope, but Leverkusen's title-winning coach was unable to win over the superstars around Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe.
The internal unrest continued even after his dismissal. An online petition, which has now been signed several million times, is calling for Mbappe's departure. In addition, at the beginning of May, there was a serious altercation between Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni, with the Uruguayan having to be treated in the emergency room after being struck by his teammate.
On top of that, President Florentino Perez is facing criticism. The 79-year-old categorically rejects the idea of stepping down and will stand for re-election on June 7th. Perez is already aiming for his seventh term in office.