Ernesto Valverde announced this Friday the “consensual” decision with the Athletic Club of not continuing as coach of the rojiblanco team next season. This is what he expressed in a video broadcast on the official channels of the Ibagaine club:
“ℹ️ Ernesto Valverde announces that he will not be the coach of Athletic next season.
“It is a decision that I have matured for a long time and has been discussed with the Club”
“There are ten games left in which we have a lot to win”
A farewell at your height is pending, mister.“
— Athletic Club (@AthleticClub) March 20, 2026
“This appearance is to announce that Next season I will not be the coach of Athletic. It is a decision that I have matured over time and for a long time, which also is in talks with the club and I wanted to share it with you,” explains the Athletic coach in those images.
“At the same time, it should be noted that we have ten important league games left, starting with this Sunday against Betis. Ten games in which we want to achieve our goalsin which we have a lot to gain, in which we are going to give everything and, undoubtedly, if we are all together we can achieve it, without a doubt,” he concludes.
Valverde, Athletic’s “life legend” as the entity itself values him in confirming his farewell, will close his third stage on the San Mamés bench at the end of this season (2022-2026) completing a total of ten years at the head of the team adding the periods 2003-2005 and 2013-2017.
The Copa del Rey, 40 years later, its great achievement
A decade in which Athletic has brought two titles to its showcases, the 2015 Super Cup, after beating a two-legged FC Barcelona who only lacked this trophy to achieve the ‘sextet’, and the 2024 King’s Cup. A success that allowed the legendary barge to be brought out to the Nervión estuary after a long hiatus of 40 years.
Furthermore, in this ‘Valverde era’ Athletic qualified twice for the Champions League (2013-14 and 2024-25) and was runner-up in the Cup in 2015 and semi-finalist in the 2024-25 Europa League. In the previous nine seasons, the final positions of the red and white team in the League always oscillated between fourth and ninth place.
In addition to all these numbers as a coach, the figure of Valverde, 62 years old, is magnified in his time as Athletic footballer, developed between 1990 and 1996in which he played 188 games and scored 50 goals.
“Once the announcement is made that Valverde will not continue next year, the farewell of this living legend of Athletic will take place later, at the end of the season,” reveals Athletic. The ‘Txingurri’ leaves as the coach with the most games in charge of the Bilbao team (494).
