Matjaž Kek back on Rijeka’s bench: the return of the coach who marked the club’s most successful era
Matjaž Kek is once again the coach of HNK Rijeka. The club from Rujevica announced on June 7, 2026, that the Slovenian expert is returning to the bench on which, during his first spell, he achieved the most important results in the modern history of Rijeka football. The return of the 64-year-old from Maribor comes after Rijeka ended its cooperation with Victor Sanchez at the end of May, the Spanish coach who led the team during most of the 2025/26 season. In the club announcement, Kek was presented as the most decorated strategist in Rijeka’s history, and his return was confirmed after weeks of speculation about who would take over the team ahead of the new season.
According to HNK Rijeka’s announcement, Kek is returning after almost eight years and taking charge of a squad that the club says has significant playing potential, but also a need for a new results breakthrough. His second spell therefore carries not only emotional weight, but also very concrete expectations: to stabilize the team, maintain the continuity of European appearances and once again move closer to the top of the SuperSport HNL. Rijeka finished the 2025/26 season in fourth place, and according to data from the SuperSport HNL and the HNS competition system, that kept it among the clubs entering European qualifiers. In the club context, that is a result that opens space for a new season, but also a reminder that more will be expected from Kek than the mere return of a familiar name.
The parting with Victor Sanchez opened room for change
Victor Sanchez left Rijeka on May 27, 2026, when the club announced that the cooperation had been terminated by mutual agreement. According to HNK Rijeka’s official statement, Sanchez took over the team at the beginning of September 2025, after the departure of Radomir Đalović, with a squad that had previously secured the league phase of the UEFA Conference League, at a moment when Rijeka was in seventh place in the SuperSport HNL after five league rounds. The club emphasized that the Spaniard finished the season in fourth position and secured qualification for the UEFA Conference League qualifiers. In the league, according to the same announcement, he led 31 matches and recorded 13 wins, nine draws and nine defeats.
Sanchez’s period at Rujevica was not without success. HNK Rijeka states that under his leadership the team advanced in Europe to the knockout phase of the UEFA Conference League and, for the first time in 46 years, spent the winter in European competitions. In ten European matches, according to club data, Rijeka recorded four wins, four draws and two defeats, with notable performances against Omonia, Sparta Prague, Strasbourg and Shakhtar. UEFA’s official statistics for Rijeka in the 2025/26 Conference League record 11 goals scored and six conceded in appearances in that competition, confirming that the European part of the season was an important part of Sanchez’s tenure.
In domestic competitions, Sanchez had several standout moments, but did not bring a trophy. The club singled out the 5:0 victory over Hajduk as especially impressive, the biggest Rijeka win in the Adriatic derbies. Under his leadership, Rijeka also reached the final of the SuperSport Croatian Football Cup, but was defeated by Dinamo 2:0 in Osijek. In its report after the final, the SuperSport HNL states that with that victory Dinamo also won the Cup, while Rijeka was left with the final as confirmation of competitiveness, but also as a missed opportunity for a trophy-winning end to the season. The decision to enter a new coaching phase should be viewed through that balance of solid results and the absence of the highest breakthrough.
The most successful coach in the club’s history
Kek’s name has special meaning in Rijeka because of his first spell, which lasted from February 27, 2013, to October 6, 2018. According to HNK Rijeka’s official announcement, during that period, over 2045 days of his first spell, he led the team 274 times, including 201 matches in the HNL, 42 in European competitions and 31 in the Cup and Super Cup. The club states that in his first spell he achieved 165 victories in all competitions, with an average of 2.04 points won per match and an average of 1.97 goals scored. Those figures explain why his return is seen not only as a coaching change, but as an attempt to return to a recognizable working model.
Kek’s greatest result remains the Croatian championship title in the 2016/17 season, the first such title in Rijeka’s history. In the same era, two Croatian Cups and the Croatian Super Cup were also won, and in its official announcement the club particularly emphasizes that Kek is the most decorated coach in its history. That run was important not only because of the number of trophies, but also because of the way Rijeka built its identity at the time. The team was tactically disciplined, intense, organized in both directions and capable of maintaining a high level of play for a long time, which in the Croatian championship led to a rare break in the dominance of the biggest domestic rivals.
Under Kek’s leadership, Rijeka also left its mark in European competitions. HNK Rijeka states that the club qualified for the group stage of the Europa League three times and came close to reaching the Champions League. The official announcement highlights victories over Milan, Feyenoord, Standard Liège and Stuttgart, as well as matches in which Rijeka did not lose to Sevilla, Betis and RB Salzburg. Such results cemented Kek as a coach who managed to make the Rijeka club internationally relevant, not merely an occasionally dangerous opponent, but a team that had a clear European reputation.
The second spell begins in a different environment
Although Matjaž Kek’s return rests on a strong memory of success, the circumstances in which he enters his second spell are not the same as at the time of his first arrival. Since 2018, Rijeka has changed several coaches, gone through different phases of sporting planning and remained a club that regularly tries to combine player development, competitive ambition and European visibility. The 2025/26 season showed that the team can achieve notable European results, but also that it lacks stability in the domestic league for a longer battle with the top. Fourth place with 53 points, according to the published SuperSport HNL table, left Rijeka behind Dinamo, Hajduk and Varaždin.
For Kek, this means that the starting point is not a crisis in the simplest sense, but a team that has results, yet seeks clearer structure and a higher threshold of reliability. In such a situation, the coach’s advantage may be his knowledge of the club, the city, the pressure and the way work is valued at Rujevica. However, the second spell also carries the danger of comparison with a period that is difficult to repeat. The 2017 title was a historical exception in Croatian football, and from the new beginning it will realistically not be nostalgia alone that is expected, but a concrete plan for the league, the Cup and European qualifiers.
An important part of the context is also Kek’s work with the Slovenian national team after leaving Rijeka. The Football Association of Slovenia announced in 2024 that it had been agreed that Kek would lead the national team until the end of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, that is, until November 2025. The association then stated that Kek had taken Slovenia to the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2024, and that in his second spell on the national team bench he had been there since November 2018. That national-team work further strengthened his status as an experienced expert, but club football will now require from him a daily rhythm, quicker decisions and more direct work with the team.
First challenges: preparations, squad and European qualifiers
Rijeka enters the new season with a clear competitive framework. HNK Rijeka announced that it will open the 2026/27 SuperSport HNL competitive season on August 1 with a home match against Rudeš, a returnee to the top-flight ranks. In the second round, on August 8, Dinamo comes to Rujevica, which means that Kek will have a test against the strongest domestic benchmark right at the start of the league. The club also announced that the exact kick-off times of the matches are to be determined later, so the details of the schedule will be confirmed through official competition procedures.
Preparations will therefore be especially important because the new coach will have to define the hierarchy within the team quickly. After a season in which Rijeka combined domestic obligations, the Cup and European matches, the question of squad depth will be one of the key issues. In his first spell, Kek built teams that relied on clear roles, high responsibility in the defensive phase and recognizable energy in transition. If he follows a similar logic, the first decisions could concern defensive stability, midfield balance and attacking efficiency, especially in matches in which Rijeka is expected to have possession and initiative.
European qualifiers additionally shorten the time for getting into rhythm. According to the club announcement after Sanchez’s departure, Rijeka secured qualification for the UEFA Conference League qualifiers by finishing fourth. In recent seasons, that competition has become an important space for Croatian clubs that want to maintain European continuity, financially stabilize the season and increase player value. Rijeka showed in the previous cycle that it can be competitive in the Conference League, but repeating such an effect will require quick adaptation by the new staff and clear decisions in the transfer window.
Why the return carries special weight
Kek’s return is not an ordinary coaching change because a person whose previous work shaped the standards by which the club’s ambition is still measured is coming back to Rujevica. In football, such returns are always complex: they bring trust, emotional connection and authority, but also the risk that the past turns into a burden. By appointing him, Rijeka has chosen proven authority, not an experiment. It is a message to the dressing room, the fans and the competition that the club wants to reduce uncertainty about its sporting direction and re-establish a recognizable playing identity.
At the same time, a coaching change by itself does not solve all sporting problems. The success of Kek’s second spell will depend on the squad he has at his disposal, the quality of the transfer window, the health of key players and the club’s ability to harmonize domestic and European obligations. The 2026/27 league begins quickly, and the schedule with Rudeš and Dinamo at the start does not leave much room for gradual adjustment. The first matches will not necessarily determine the entire season, but they will give a clear signal about how ready the team is to accept the demands of the new, yet in fact very well-known coach.
At Rujevica, a new chapter is thus opening with a coach who has already once shown that Rijeka can be more than an occasional challenger. Now a different task awaits him: in the circumstances of changed Croatian and European football, to rebuild a team that has continuity, clarity and competitive audacity. According to everything the club announced on June 7, 2026, the return of Matjaž Kek is envisioned precisely as the beginning of such a process, and the first real answers will come already during the summer preparations and the opening rounds of the new season.
Sources:
- HNK Rijeka – official announcement of Matjaž Kek’s appointment as the new coach and data on his first spell (link)
- HNK Rijeka – official announcement on the mutual termination of cooperation with Victor Sanchez and data on his tenure (link)
- HNK Rijeka – schedule of the opening rounds of the 2026/27 SuperSport HNL and information on opening the season against Rudeš (link)
- SuperSport HNL – Rijeka club page, news, schedule and competition context of the season (link)
- Croatian Football Federation, Semafor system – official competition data and placement rules from the SuperSport HNL (link)
- UEFA – official HNK Rijeka page in the 2025/26 UEFA Conference League and performance statistics (link)
- Football Association of Slovenia – official announcement on Kek’s national-team tenure and the duration of the contract until November 2025 (link)