Iraola putting the Cherries on top
English Premier League club Bournemouth FC is 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 claim to a Champions League spot next season. Though it’s not in their hands entirely as a few other favourable outcomes would also need to align at the same time.
Considering their size, financial limitations and the overall squad depth, this is an exceptional accomplishment. Head-coach Andoni Iraola has achieved a miraculous feat by catapulting the South Coast side from mid-table obscurity to the upper echelon. What’s even more impressive is that he has done it while implementing one of the most attractive brands of football witnessed in the Premier League this season. So how has he done it and what all factors have driven the rise of Bournemouth?
To answer these questions, let’s take a look at his coaching career, his arrival at Bournemouth, recruitment strategy, playing style and tactics and the performances in the 2025/26 season –
Coaching History
Andoni Iraola started his football journey with home side, the Athletic Club (widely known as Athletic Bilbao) as a defender, coming through their youth academy system and playing 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 the Basque region in 2017. He soon moved abroad for further experience, joining AEK Lakarna 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 made 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 the head-coach of the newly promoted CD Mirandés – a Segunda División side. This is the club 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 LaLiga clubs like Villareal, Sevilla and Celta Vigo. It was here that his intense pressing style of football took shape and started attracting attention across Spain.
After his short stint with Mirandés, Iraola took up the head-coach job at Rayo Vallecano in 2020. He first guided them to a LaLiga promotion through the play-offs and then surprised one and all, playing one of the most aggressive and intense brands of football in Spain’s top division.
His Rayo side also recorded upsets over Real Madrid and Barcelona that season and also reached 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 the Spaniard. Leeds United came calling in early 2023 but Rayo forbade him to enter discussions with them. However, the Spanish club couldn’t hold on to him for much longer as he decided to move to English Club Bournemouth in June 2023.
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 he couldn’t possibly last the whole season. However, Iraola 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. The team’s 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 Premier League season.
Since then, Bournemouth have only witnessed an upward trajectory with astute recruitment, great planning and an impressive brand of attacking football.
Recruitment strategy, Playing Style and Tactics
A major factor that has helped Iraola is Bournemouth’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. It’s often difficult for a side in transition to perform consistently after losing key players in the summer but the club has been able to replace them and move on to better things. For context, Bournemouth sold three starting players (Ilia Zabarnyi, Milos Kerkez and Dean Huijsen) from their backline in the summer ahead of the 2025/26 season and they didn’t just replace them, the new recruits then adapted seamlessly to the new team.
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. Surely the credit for all that must lie with Andoni 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 clubs and players with 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 Marco Bielsa as he played under him for the 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 structure but the shape keeps changing in possession. The attacking midfielders and full-backs 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 defensive lines.
His team doesn’t wait for the opposition to lose the ball but looks 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, their instant response is to move the ball forward as quickly as possible as they like to play more direct.
His team also creates overloads on the flanks with overlapping full-backs and wingers drifting inwards which leads to using 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 or direct passes to attack. The intent isn’t to make a perfect direct pass every time but to bombard the targeted zones with passes and create a constant situation of chaos for the opposition players and then try to win second balls to continue with the attack. Bournemouth has also identified specific skills in the players to execute his tactics on the pitch. They have employed ball-playing defenders, dynamic wingers and fullbacks and runners in the midfield to carry out this style of football.
The 2025/26 season
Bournemouth has secured the best finish to a season this year by securing European qualification. This was Bournemouth’s fourth season in a row in the Premier League and they have come a long way from a team that was struggling with relegation. Since Iraola’s arrival in 2023, the improvements have been immense.
Bournemouth 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 but Liverpool scored two late goals to secure a 4-2 win. However, the Cherries 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 without a win, 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 games to climb up to sixth position with the final game of the season left to play.
Some of the standout results from these 17 games are the 2-1 win at Emirates against Arsenal, the 3-2 win at home against Liverpool, the 2-1 win against Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium, the 2-1 away win at St. James’ Park against Newcastle United and the 3-0 win against Crystal Palace at home.
This has been a strange kind of season with a couple of top teams underperforming but it cannot take the credit away from Andoni Iraola and his Bournemouth team that have surprised everyone with their consistency and performances. They have not only maintained their best-ever unbeaten streak but also showcased an entertaining brand of football as opposed to the majority of the Premier League sides who have been boring and single-mindedly defensive.
Whether Bournemouth end up in the Champions League or the Europa League next season, they have already proven that with an elite coaching philosophy, smart recruitment strategy, clear tactical identity, and the player’s commitment to the manager’s vision, even a traditionally mid-table club can outperform the big clubs backed by billion-dollar resources.
With Andoni Iraola already announcing that he will be leaving Bournemouth at the end of the season, he will leave the club in a much-improved situation, having led them to their best league finish and more importantly their first-ever appearance in a European competition.
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.
As for now, the 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!
