Bournemouth make Europe: How Andoni Iraola put the Cherries on top

AFC Bournemouth are on the verge of a historic achievement. The Cherries have already booked a place in Europe with one game to go, and the only question left is whether they will compete in the Europa League or make a sensational appearance in the Champions League. Although their fate is not entirely in their hands, a few favourable outcomes need to occur elsewhere.

Regardless of what competition they ultimately end up in, what Bournemouth have achieved this season is already an exceptional accomplishment considering the relative size of the club, their financial limitations, and overall squad depth.

Their head coach, Andoni Iraola, has practically performed a miracle by catapulting the South Coast side from mid-table obscurity to the upper echelons of the Premier League. What’s even more impressive is that the Spaniard has managed it while implementing one of the most attractive brands of football witnessed in the league this season.

So how has he done it, and what factors have driven Bournemouth’s rise?

To answer these questions, here we look at Iraola’s coaching career, his arrival at Bournemouth, recruitment strategy, playing style, tactics, and the performances in the 2025/26 season.

Coaching history

Andoni Iraola started his football journey with hometown outfit Athletic Club as a defender, coming through their youth academy system and going on to play over 400 games for them. He retired from professional football in November 2016, and thereafter began his tryst with football coaching.

As most young coaches do, Iraola began his coaching career with a well-known youth academy, Antiguoko, in Basque Country in 2017. He soon moved abroad for further experience, joining AEK Larnaca in the Cypriot League for the 2018/19 season. Though he was sacked within seven months after a drop-off in performances, it was a good learning curve for the young Spaniard. Before leaving, though, Iraola did manage to make his mark, leading them to the Europa League group stage and helping them win silverware in the form of the Cypriot Cup.

In the summer of 2019, Iraola was appointed as head coach of the newly promoted Mirandés, a Segunda División side in Spain. This is where his reputation began to grow, as he transformed them into Spain’s biggest surprise package. Iraola helped them achieve a mid-table finish, but more than that, Mirandés surprised one and all by reaching the Copa del Rey semi-finals, knocking out big top-flight clubs like Villarreal, Sevilla, and Celta Vigo. It was here that his intense pressing style of football took shape and started attracting attention throughout Spain.

After his short stint with Mirandés, Iraola took up the head coach job at Rayo Vallecano in 2020. He first guided them to promotion to the first division through the play-offs and then surprised one and all, playing one of the most aggressive and intense brands of football in the Spanish top flight.

Iraola’s Rayo side also recorded upsets over Real Madrid and Barcelona that season, while also reaching the semi-finals of the Copa del Rey, a feat they achieved after four decades.

Iraola’s profile skyrocketed at Rayo, with Premier League clubs starting to take major interest in him. Leeds United came calling in early 2023, but Rayo forbade him from entering discussions with them. However, the Spanish club couldn’t hold on to him for much longer, and in June 2023 he decided to move to another English side, Bournemouth.

The arrival at Bournemouth

Upon arriving at Bournemouth in the summer of 2023, Iraola found out first-hand about the challenges awaiting him. In his first nine league games in charge, he couldn’t record a single win, and most believed it was a failed appointment and that he couldn’t possibly last the whole season.

However, Iraola soon proved everyone wrong, as his team started adapting to his demanding style of play and producing the expected results.

Once his ideas began taking shape, Bournemouth became one of the Premier League’s most exciting teams to watch. Their high pressing, quick transitions, and fearless attacking football earned a lot of appreciation, as Iraola guided them to their highest Premier League points tally in his debut season.

Since then, Bournemouth have only witnessed an upward trajectory, with astute recruitment, great planning, and an impressive brand of attacking football.

Recruitment strategy and tactics

A major factor that has helped Iraola at Bournemouth is the club’s top-class recruitment strategy. Their scouting is one of the best in the league, and they have strengthened financially through player transfers as well in recent years.

It’s often difficult for a side in transition to perform consistently after losing key players in the off-season, but this season the Cherries have been able to replace their outgoing stars and move on to better things. They sold three starting players — Ilia Zabarnyi, Milos Kerkez, and Dean Huijsen — from their backline ahead of the 2025/26 season, only for the new recruits to replace them and adapt to the new team seamlessly.

A team can acquire the best players in the world, but it’s up to the manager to train them, improve and develop them, and make them perform as part of the team. For that, the credit can only be given to Iraola.

Moreover, what makes Iraola special is his ability to overachieve with limited resources. At all his clubs, be it Mirandés, Rayo Vallecano, or Bournemouth, he has consistently improved players despite having relatively modest budgets and squads at his disposal, while also implementing an entertaining style of football. That is also a reason that he is one of the most sought-after coaches in Europe right now.

Coming to his playing style, Iraola has been heavily influenced by his former coach and mentor Marcelo Bielsa, whom he played under at Athletic Club. His coaching philosophy includes playing an aggressive high press, fast vertical attacks, quick ball recoveries high up the pitch, and constantly changing positional structures.

Iraola generally starts his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation, but the shape keeps changing in possession. The attacking midfielders and fullbacks push high up the pitch, often changing the formation into a 4-2-4 or 4-1-4-1 to put pressure on the opposition backline.

His players do not wait for the opposition to lose the ball and look for turnovers higher up the pitch rather than sitting deep in defence. They employ a mix of zonal marking and man-to-man pressing to force the opposition players into making errors. Once they win back possession, they prioritise moving the ball forward as quickly as possible.

His side also creates overloads on the flanks through overlapping fullbacks and inwards-drifting wingers, leveraging the width of the pitch and creating dangerous situations with crosses and line-breaking passes. Also, Iraola’s teams don’t build up from the back but utilise long balls. The intent isn’t to make a perfect direct pass every time, but to bombard the targeted zones with passes, create a constant situation of chaos for the opposition players, and then try to win second balls to continue with the attack.

At Bournemouth, Iraola has also identified specific skills in his players to execute his tactics on the pitch, employing ball-playing defenders, dynamic wingers and fullbacks, and runners in the midfield to carry out this style of football.

The 2025/26 season

Bournemouth have secured their best-ever finish to a season this year by clinching European football for next season through the league. This was Bournemouth’s fourth season in a row since their return to the Premier League, and they have come a long way from a side that was struggling with relegation. Since Iraola’s arrival in 2023, the improvements have been immense.

The Cherries suffered defeat to Liverpool in the opening fixture of the season in a six-goal thriller, where they came back from a 2–0 deficit to equalise before the Reds scored two late goals to secure a 4–2 win. However, Bournemouth then went on an eight-game winning streak before losing 3–1 away to Manchester City. Iraola’s side lost momentum after that, and what followed was a torrid period for the club as they went without a win for the next 11 league games, including five draws and six defeats. This dismal streak saw them drop down to 15th place.

However, Bournemouth staged a miraculous comeback after their home defeat to Arsenal in Gameweek 20, going unbeaten in their next 17 league games — winning eight and drawing nine — to climb up to sixth going into the final game of the season.

Some of the standout results from these 17 games included a 2–1 win at the Emirates over Arsenal, a 3–2 win at home against Liverpool, a 2–1 win against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, a 2–1 away win at Newcastle, and a 3–0 win against Crystal Palace at home.

This has been a strange kind of season, with a couple of top teams underperforming, but one cannot take the credit away from Andoni Iraola and his players, who have surprised everyone with their consistency and performances. They’ve not only registered their best-ever unbeaten streak, but also showcased an entertaining brand of football as opposed to most of the Premier League sides, who have been boring and single-mindedly defensive.

Regardless of whether Bournemouth end up in the Champions League or the Europa League next season, they have already proved that, with an elite coaching philosophy, smart recruitment strategy, clear tactical identity, and the players’ commitment to the manager’s vision, even a traditionally mid-table team can outperform the big sides backed by billion-dollar resources.

Conclusion

With Andoni Iraola having already announced his departure at the end of the season, he is set to leave Bournemouth in a much better situation than the one he found them in, having led the Cherries to their best league finish and, more importantly, European qualification for the first time in their history.

While there have been no reliable reports suggesting where he will end up, we know without a doubt that, wherever he goes next, Iraola is going to create a winning culture and impose his attacking and entertaining brand of football on that team.

For now, Bournemouth fans can look forward to next season with a lot of hope and excitement, as Andoni Iraola has definitely put the Cherries on top!