Albert Riera becomes coach at Eintracht Frankfurt. The Spaniard is supposed to lead the Hessians out of their creative crisis from Monday. From the perspective of board member Markus Krösche, he has the prerequisites for this.
What was pretty certain since Tuesday is now perfect: Albert Riera will be the coach of Eintracht Frankfurt. The Bundesliga soccer team announced this on Friday evening. The 43-year-old Spaniard will take over the position from Monday, February 2nd, and will receive a contract with the Hessians until 2028. Eintracht has to pay a small fee to Riera’s current club, NK Celje. With the Slovenians, the coach will play his very personal farewell game in the top game against Maribor on Sunday – at his own request, as Eintracht said.
The former midfielder (including Manchester City and Liverpool FC), who is close friends with world-class coaches Pep Guardiola and Mikel Arteta, succeeds Dino Toppmöller and interim coach Dennis Schmitt at Eintracht. The 32-year-old will look after the Frankfurt team one last time on Saturday in the Bundesliga home game against Bayer Leverkusen.
Bold choice by manager Krösche
“With Albert Riera, we consciously chose a coach who stands for modern, intensive and offensive football. He has international experience, a clear game idea and an equally clear approach to the daily work with the team,” said Eintracht sports director Markus Krösche, who is taking a risk with his choice of coach.
Krösche rejected Bundesliga-tested alternatives such as Marco Rose, preferring to rely on a face that is new to the region. Riera is also seen as quite the opposite of the calm and matter-of-fact predecessor Toppmöller. The coach, who was born on Mallorca, is much more impulsive in his speeches, and he doesn’t shy away from debates with referees or opposing coaches.
“Albert impressed us in the discussions with his professional depth and his good communication. We have been following his development for a very long time,” said Krösche, on whose radar the coach is said to have appeared for the first time in the summer of 2024. Eintracht is therefore convinced “that his skills in the current situation and in the future harmonize well with the requirements of Eintracht Frankfurt and that he also fits in very well with the club and our team as a person,” said Krösche.
There are also two new assistants
The head coach is accompanied by assistant coaches Pablo Remon Arteta and Lorenzo Dolcetti, who are currently also working with Riera at NK Celje. The previous Toppmöller assistant Jan Fießer and Jan Zimmermann, who is responsible for the goalkeepers, will continue to be part of the coaching team.
