😫 When everything goes wrong: he's the biggest loser of the year | OneFootball

“When you pitch in, it’s like two people are letting go,” or “With you on board, the success rate sinks”—we probably all know these sayings, and today we’re taking a look at someone for whom the year 2025 went exactly like that.

Everything he touched went wrong. As if he had just booked bad luck in advance.

The year of Ivan Juric certainly hit rock bottom on November 10. The day Atalanta Bergamo announced his dismissal. Gasperini’s shoes were apparently just a size too big for him.

At the start of the season, he took over the team we mainly remember from the 2024 Europa League final. Back then, Lookman & Co. handed Leverkusen their first defeat after a gazillion games.

Juric couldn’t ride that wave of success—in fact, he turned it into the opposite. Even the club’s self-image as an established member of the league’s elite seemed to crumble. Not to mention any international success.

In the 15 games under his leadership, there was too little success; a 0:3 thrashing by a newly promoted team was finally too much for the proud La Dea.

📸 FRANCK FIFE - AFP or licensors

Maybe it was the advance praise that got him the job in the first place. He had previously worked with legend Gasperini, considered his right-hand man. The success and aura rubbed off on him—at least in the general perception.

Hummels-Blocker in the Eternal City

If the Atalanta bosses had looked at the Croatian’s résumé instead of his references, their assessment might have been different.

Before his sacking in Bergamo, Juric had already been shown the door twice in the preceding months.

For example, on November 10, 2024. After twelve matchdays under his leadership, AS Roma was still performing much worse than expected—both in the league and in the Europa League.

Alongside sporting defeats, there were also personal failures. In addition to his aloof, taciturn communication with the public, his handling of BVB legend Mats Hummels was particularly criticized.

He was even accused of ruining the well-deserved world champion’s career finale. Although, Hummels’ own goal in his only appearance under Juric was his own doing—unless there was some black magic involved. Well.

📸 Francesco Pecoraro - 2025 Getty Images

It didn’t even take a whole year for history to repeat itself. The cheers over Juric’s dismissal after just 53 days at Roma apparently didn’t reach as far as England.

Otherwise, it’s hard to explain why Southampton FC decided in April this year to hire Juric as a firefighter. At least he lasted almost twice as long there—105 days—before the lights were turned off in his English office as well.

Near-Brawl with Consequences

At Atalanta, the whole drama started all over again. Besides the distance the coach radiated with every fiber, it was mainly his style of play that quickly backfired. Too old, too physical, too defensive, and simply unsuitable for modern football—that was the consensus.

📸 FRANCK FIFE - AFP or licensors

He also almost got into a fight with one of the most important players. At least that’s how many interpreted the scene in which Ivan Juric literally yelled at Ademola Lookman after substituting him during the Champions League match against Marseille in early November, and had to be physically restrained.

That was the end, but Juric was probably already used to that feeling by then.

Just Not the Type for Something Long-Term?

By the way, these bizarre short stints on the sidelines didn’t just start with his job in Rome. In 2017, for example, at the beginning of his coaching career in Genoa, he was hired, fired after seven months in February, rehired two months later, and fired again in November. And then it happened yet again.

Sounds almost like toxic dynamics in which club and coach were trapped. Or as if Serie A needs regular reminders of which coaches you might want to steer clear of.

No matter where he was, he wasn’t there for long. Only at Hellas Verona and Torino did the relationships last a bit longer.

Maybe he just wants to collect as many grounds as possible—or maybe he just gets bored quickly. Either way, Juric is currently without a job.

Since the football business is long-lived and the coaching carousel spins as fast as the wind, that could change soon—and then it’s only half as bad.

One thing is clear: three dismissals within a year, two of them in 2025?

In the professional business, with that record, he’s definitely the loser of the year.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Emmanuele Ciancaglini - 2025 Getty Images