Former West Ham and Real Madrid manager Julen Lopetegui hired by the Qatar national team

Julen Lopetegui, Spanish football coach and former goalkeeper, with past managerial roles with the Spanish national team, Real Madrid, Sevilla, Wolverhampton Wanderers, and most recently West Ham United, has found a new place in Qatar. The 58-year-old has been hired by the Qatar Football Association for the Qatar national team until 2027.

His task? Improve a team that, in 2022, became the worst performing host nation in the history of the FIFA World Cup: they qualified by virtue of being the hosts, but lost every game in the group stage (against Ecuador, Senegal, and the Netherlands) and only scored one goal. His debut will be in a match against Iran on June 5 as part of the World Cup 2026 qualifiers. They need to remain in the third or fourth spot of their group to be able to play the playoff.

The larger format, with 48 teams instead of the usual 32, will give Qatar more chances of reaching the World Cup in the summer next year.

Lopetegui was fired in January this year by West Ham after a series of abysmal results. His replacement, Graham Potter, failed to turn the situation, but West Ham will avoid relegation, 15 points clear of the bottom three, ahead of Ipswich with 21 points.