Real Madrid legend Raul steps down as B-team coach

Real Madrid has confirmed that club legend Raul Gonzalez will leave the organization and will not be coaching the club's B-team (Real Madrid Castilla) next season.

"Real Madrid C.F. announces that Raul has informed the club of his decision to end his time as a coach at our youth academy."

"Real Madrid is proud to have had one of the greatest legends in our history and world football as a coach and trainer at our youth academy," explained the club on its official website.

As a player Raul scored 323 goals in 741 appearances for Real Madrid, before ending his career with spells at Schalke 04 in Germany, Al Sadd in Qatar and a brief spell at New York Cosmos.

He returned to Real Madrid as a coach in 2018 to coach the club's Under-15 team and was promoted to work with Castilla in the third tier of the Spanish game the following year.

However, despite Castilla having one of the highest budgets in its category, the 47-year-old was constantly unable to take the team to promotion to the Spanish second division, missing out on the play-offs again this season, and never seriously considered to be a candidate to coach the first team, being overlooked when Carlo Ancelotti replaced Zinedine Zidane in 2021 and with former teammate Xabi Alonso now called on to replace the Italian.

"A new period in my life is opening as a coach away from this club, with the conviction that one day I will be back to what will always be my home," wrote Raul in a message on social media.