Updated on January 31, 2026 – 11:45 amReading time: 4 minutes
Eintracht Frankfurt has found a successor for the released Dino Toppmöller. A little-known Spaniard will now take up the position as head coach.
“Albert, who?” and “Wasn’t that the one from Liverpool?”: One or two Eintracht Frankfurt fans must have felt something similar when the first rumors about Albert Riera arose a few days ago. The 43-year-old will succeed Dino Toppmöller in the Main metropolis. The club officially announced the deal on Friday evening. But Riera’s CV doesn’t read like that of a top European coach. To put it bluntly, it comes a little out of nowhere.
As a player, the left-footer, who was born in Mallorca, was a real wanderer. Coming from RCD Mallorca’s youth ranks, he went to France early in his career and later to England, where he played for Liverpool FC, among others. Riera may also be known to many football fans from his time with the “Reds” between 2008 and 2010, when he was also a Spanish national team player. Interestingly, after stops in Greece, Türkiye and Italy, he ended his career not in Mallorca, but in Slovenia.
Riera now comes to Frankfurt from exactly there. Because he was the head coach of NK Celje for the second time. The club is currently leading the Slovenian first league by twelve points. Riera recently extended his contract until 2028, according to a post on the online platform X. Now he’s apparently taking off. He was already in charge of 17 games at Celje at the start of the 2023/24 season, only to leave the club for France.
During his time at Girondins Bordeaux, who were then playing in Ligue 2, there were questionable headlines. Above all, Riera regularly claimed that his team was superior to their opponents, despite Bordeaux finishing the season in 13th place. “Sometimes you can believe that you were better and it just didn’t work out. But for him it’s a recurring phenomenon,” said Bastia coach Régis Brouard to the French “L’Équipe”. “What does he think? That we don’t see his positional play? If you look at the goals they concede, there are some similarities.”
