El Real Madrid has announced the renewal of Chus Mateowho will continue as first team coach two more seasons. The negotiation between both parties began several months ago and was always on the right track, but it was not until now that The white club has made official the continuity of the 55-year-old Madrid coachwhich has been earned hard, with good game and titlesthat extension of their contractual relationship.
Mateo arrived on the white bench in July 2022. He had been Pablo Laso’s assistant coach for eight yearsbut when he was fired after suffering a heart problem, the club decided to give him command of its bench. What seemed then an emergency solution seen so many times in team sports, that of temporarily placing a house coach (he had been there for 17 years), has been consolidated in the most resounding way possible.
Successful post-Laso transition
In a club of the demand of Real Madridwhere titles historically are our daily bread, Chus Mateo He has complied with that unwritten law by leading his team to win five titles in two seasons: A Euroleague, a League, a Copa del Rey and two Super Cups. Not even the most optimistic of Madrid fans could have imagined such a successful transition after Laso’s departurewhose shadow is as long as his resume (22 titles in 11 seasons with the whites).
Those who saw Chus Mateo as a mere troupe They were wrong from beginning to end. Possibly Neither he himself, nor of course the club, expected that things would go so well.. The most critical argued that this star-studded Madrid was great for him. They saw him without sufficient character or authority to impose disciplineand more importantly, to include your ideas in a locker room with too many roosters.
He has managed the locker room with his left hand
It didn’t help him his image as a good person, his tone of voice always slow and thoughtfulnor that in his ‘modus operandi’ on the bench there was not much room for exaggerated fuss not even for big fights. Mateo did not need any whip to win over a locker room that has been managed with a left hand, and that in general terms he has respected his work. Although as is logical one of his stars, for example Hezonja, has been angry with him at some specific moment when considering that he deserved more minutes on the court.
In a squad full of stars with big egos There will always be dissatisfied players, but Mateo has known how to cope with that situation, being quite fair in the distribution of minutes paying attention to merits, not names. His team has played quite well and remains at the top of national and European basketball. In his first campaign his record in the League was 33-10 in the League and in the Euroleague 28-13, winning the title. And in 2023-2024 he accredited a 36-6 in the League and 31-8 in a Euroleague that he dominated with an iron fist. Only the Panathinaikos deprived him of his second consecutive crown, but Mateo was recognized with the premium Aleksander Gomelski as best European coach of the year.
I have won five titles with the club of my heart and I hope we can continue achieving more
Last season Madrid won the treble (Super Cup, Cup and League) and Chus Mateo, from the humility that always characterizes him, vindicated the work of his team and his own: “I am very proud of the work group I have. I am a simple person who likes simple things. I am proud of the work done by the players, by the coaching staff and also with my job. I have won five titles with the club of my heart and I hope we can continue achieving more,” he said after sentencing the final against the UCAM Murcia.
Brutal balance in 2023-24: 72 wins and 14 losses
“We have had a great season, a little sad to lose the Euroleague final, but We have done an incredible job winning 72 games out of 86. It has been an incredible year, with ups and downs, but very, very good. We have fought for all the titles and we have almost won all of them,” he said with the League champion trophy under his arm. Its renewal is an act of justice.
