Xabi Alonso will finish 2025 as Real Madrid coach, but right now it is very difficult to predict how long he will remain in charge of the club. The Basque coach's future hangs in the balance after a deep crisis of results and play since the beginning of November, during which time he lost a five-point lead over Barcelona in LaLiga, while in the Champions League his ability to compete against the big boys of the continent has been called into question after stumbling against Liverpool and Manchester City.

The situation has put Xabi Alonso on the tightrope, and he could be fighting for his job in the Spanish Super Cup at the beginning of 2026. The semi-final against Atletico Madrid (who already thrashed them 5-2 in LaLiga) or a hypothetical final against Barcelona or Athletic Club will be definitive tests. A slip-up in any of these matches would put Alonso on the exit ramp, especially if he does not improve the image of a team that has looked soulless, faithless and lacking in intensity in recent months.

The reality that Xabi is experiencing is not new on the Madrid bench. Seven coaches have been dismissed or have resigned in the middle of different seasons during the present century. In the last 25 years, the Spanish capital club has not had too much stability with its coaches, except for the cases of Vicente del Bosque, Jose Mourinho, Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane (in two stages), the only ones who managed to survive in the job for prolonged periods.

Here is a review of all the coaches who have been dismissed or resigned at Real Madrid during the 21st century.

Vicente del Bosque

After winning the 2002-2003 La Liga title and reaching seven titles -including two Champions League titles- with Real Madrid in four years, Vicente del Bosque was not renewed to continue in charge of the Spanish giants. His departure came alongside captain Fernando Hierro, who was also unable to renew with the club he had been with for 14 seasons. Los Blancos' board of directors, already presided over by Florentino Perez, opted for a change of direction which, ultimately, did not go well, as between 2003 and 2007 they only won a Supercopa de Espana.

Carlos Queiroz

He landed as a replacement for Vicente del Bosque from Manchester United, where he was Sir Alex Ferguson's number two. He was the man in charge of the Madrid bench in that 'Zidanes y Pavones' project that combined great world football stars with homegrown products. His story did not end well. Although he won the Spanish Super Cup, his train was derailed in LaLiga (they finished fourth), they lost the Copa del Rey final to Real Zaragoza and were knocked out of the Champions League quarter-finals by Monaco.

Jose Antonio Camacho

He arrived at Madrid in May 2004 and in less than four months he resigned after two defeats in six league games. "I think the performance of this team is not adequate, and I also think that being the coach is not going to improve. That's why I decided to leave," said the Spaniard bluntly when announcing his decision. This was his second spell in charge of Madrid and, although it is hard to believe, it lasted longer than his first (summer of 1998), in which he resigned after only 22 days in the job.

Mariano Garcia Remon

He was the substitute proposed by Camacho himself after his resignation, but he also failed to meet the demands of the Madrid bench. He took over in September 2004 and by New Year's Eve he was no longer the coach. Four draws and the same number of defeats in 20 games sealed his fate.

Vanderlei Luxemburgo

He was the first (and still only) Brazilian coach of Real Madrid. In his first season, despite taking over a disjointed team, he won 16 La Liga matches (including the Clasico against Barcelona) and finished four points behind the Catalans. However, he was eliminated in the Copa del Rey by Real Valladolid and in the Champions League by Juventus. In the following campaign, five defeats in the first 14 La Liga matches led to his dismissal in December 2005.

Juan Ramon Lopez Caro

Another interim coach who arrived in an emergency situation and also went out the back door. Of 24 games, he won only half (nine draws and three defeats), was eliminated in the Champions League against Arsenal, finished 12 points behind Barcelona in LaLiga and suffered a 6-1 defeat to Real Zaragoza in the Copa del Rey semi-finals. At the end of the season, he was not renewed.

Fabio Capello

An old acquaintance of the club (he coached in 1996-97) returned to take a hard line with the squad, but was dismissed after just one season despite winning the first La Liga title for Los Blancos since the departure of Vicente del Bosque. His elimination in the Copa del Rey (against Real Betis) and in the Champions League (against Bayern Munich) weighed too heavily. His La Liga resurrection was to no avail: in the last 17 matchdays he lost only once (against Racing Santander) and in the last 12 he won 10, with some spectacular comebacks against Sevilla, Espanyol, Recreativo de Huelva, Real Zaragoza and Mallorca.

Bernd Schuster

He arrived and won LaLiga in 2007-08 with almost 20 points ahead of Barcelona, but he began to accumulate disappointments. Eliminated in the Champions League (vs. Roma) and Copa del Rey (vs. Mallorca) and defeated in the Spanish Super Cup 2007 (vs. Sevilla), the German was on the brink of the abyss until he was dismissed in December 2008 after failing to win six of his first 14 league games and being eliminated in the Copa del Rey by modest Real Union. He only lasted a year and a half in charge.

Juande Ramos

Less than 24 hours after taking over as Real Madrid coach, he made his Champions League debut with a 3-0 victory over Zenit St. Petersburg, but in his first league match he lost 2-0 at the Camp Nou against Barcelona. Although he then went on an 18-match unbeaten run (with 17 victories) in the domestic competition, he was crushed in the Champions League by Liverpool, with a humiliating 4-0 defeat at Anfield. To make matters worse, he lost the second Clasico of the season with an unforgettable 6-2 defeat at the Bernabeu and suffered five consecutive defeats at the end of La Liga. After these results, he had no chance of renewal.

Manuel Pellegrini

"El Ingeniero" arrived at Madrid in the midst of a revolution that also brought Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Benzema, Xabi Alonso, Albiol, Arbeloa and company. It was a spectacular transfer window, one of the most impressive in living memory. With this arsenal, Los Blancos scored more than 100 goals and achieved 96 points in LaLiga, but they could not overcome Pep Guardiola's Barcelona, who were champions with 99 points. Pellegrini ended the season without a title, as he was knocked out of the Champions League by Lyon and in the Copa del Rey he suffered a scandalous 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Alcorcon. These results were his downfall and he was sacked at the end of the season.

Carlo Ancelotti

Ancelotti will forever be one of the most successful coaches in football and Real Madrid history, but that was not enough to prevent him from being sacked in 2015, just a year after winning La Decima in Lisbon with that legendary Sergio Ramos header in stoppage time. The following season, Los Blancos lost the Supercopa de Espana against Atletico Madrid, who also eliminated them from the Copa del Rey, and in LaLiga Santander they finished second, two points behind Barcelona. To cap it all off, they were knocked out of the Champions League semi-finals by Juventus. Ancelotti's triumphs in the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup were of little value, as he was dismissed to make way for Rafa Benitez.

In his second spell (2021-2025) with Madrid, the Italian again triumphed with 11 titles: two LaLiga titles, two Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups, two Spanish Super Cups, one Copa del Rey, one Club World Cup and one Intercontinental Cup. He left by mutual consent in May 2025 to become Brazil's national team coach.

Rafa Benitez

Rafa Benitez's Madrid had a cruise-like start to the season, unbeaten in the Champions League group stage with 19 goals in six games and unbeaten in La Liga in the first 10 games. However, consecutive setbacks against Sevilla and Barcelona (a 4-0 thrashing at the Bernabeu) began to raise doubts about the Spanish coach's project, which was compounded by elimination from the Copa del Rey against Cadiz due to the improper alignment of Denis Cheryshev. This spiral led to Benitez's downfall, as he was sacked at the beginning of 2016 when he was third in La Liga.

Zinedine Zidane

Rafa Benitez's hasty departure heralded a disastrous season (15-16) for Madrid, but the arrival of Zinedine Zidane changed the team's fortunes. The Frenchman took over the team in third place in La Liga, but in the next 20 games he achieved 16 victories, 12 of them consecutive, to finish the championship in second place, just one point behind Barcelona. His impact was even more remarkable in the Champions League, where he overcame Roma, Wolfsburg and Manchester City in the knockout rounds, before defeating Atletico Madrid on penalties in the final. This was the start of a dynasty that included three European crowns in a row.

After winning nine titles between 2016 and 2018, Zidane resigned as Real Madrid coach and with him went Cristiano Ronaldo, closing a glorious and, in all likelihood, unrepeatable cycle. However, less than a year later he came to the rescue again on the Los Blancos bench. In that second spell, which began in March 2019, he won a LaLiga and a Supercopa de Espana, but ended up resigning again in May 2021.

Julen Lopetegui

Julen Lopetegui was the man tasked with taking over from Zidane, which was announced just as he was about to make his debut with Spain at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. This led to his immediate dismissal from the national team, so his first steps at Madrid did not take place in the best of environments and this was noticeable. In August, he lost the European Super Cup against Atleti and in the first ten LaLiga matches he only managed four victories. A run of five consecutive matches without a win, including a 5-1 thrashing against Barcelona, ended Lopetegui's time at Madrid and by October he was out of the club.

Santiago Solari

Solari was appointed Real Madrid's interim coach at the end of October 2018 and, like his predecessor Lopetegui, did not last even five months in the job. Although he won the Club World Cup in Abu Dhabi, he suffered two heavy eliminations in the Copa del Rey and the Champions League, in both cases thrashed in the second leg at the Bernabeu: 3-0 against Barcelona and 4-1 against Ajax. These failures and his erratic performance in LaLiga led to his dismissal in March, opening the door again to Zidane, who this time failed to make up for the disaster by finishing third in LaLiga for the second consecutive season.