LONDON (AP) — Fulham hired Alvaro Arbeloa as manager in an overnight announcement Wednesday that completed a coaching merry-go-round involving Real Madrid and Benfica.
Arbeloa left Madrid at the end of last season, with Jose Mourinho taking over at the Spanish giant. Mourinho arrived after leaving Benfica, which has since appointed Marco Silva — who moved there after five years at Fulham.
The 43-year-old Arbeloa has signed a three-year deal at Fulham after being interim coach at Madrid for the second half of last season following the departure of Xabi Alonso. Before that, he was a youth coach at Madrid, and a former player there.
“I am really looking forward to experiencing the atmosphere at Craven Cottage with Fulham fans and beginning pre-season with the players next week," Arbeloa said. "I am sure we are going to enjoy an incredible journey together.
Fulham chairman Shahid Khan said Arbeloa “built an exceptional case through our meetings in June” to become the team's next coach.
“Alvaro is, by his own admission, very ambitious," the chairman said. “He has spent quality time around the best players, clubs and methods in the game, experiences which will serve him well here at Fulham.”
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FILE -Real Madrid's head coach Alvaro Arbeloa sits on thebench before a La Liga soccer match between Real Madrid and Athletic in Madrid, Spain, May 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez, File)
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) — Funeral processions for Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei began Wednesday in the Iraqi city of Najaf with thousands of mourners present.
The Islamic Republic's dayslong funeral for Khamenei began Saturday, with authorities shutting down streets, airspace and daily life in Tehran as mourners commemorate the life of the man who led Iran for decades with an iron fist while confronting the West. His body will later be taken from Najaf to the city of Karbala before returning to Iran.
Talks between the United States and Iran appear to be on hold until after the burial. However, strikes from both sides in the Persian Gulf Tuesday and into Wednesday raised risks that the interim agreement to end the monthslong war that engulfed the Mideast could break down. The U.S. military attacked Iran early Wednesday after it said Tehran struck three ships in the Strait of Hormuz, before Iran launched retaliatory strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain.
The body of Khamenei arrived in the Iraqi city considered among the holiest for millions of Shiite Muslims around the world on Tuesday, alongside Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, and other senior officials. They were welcomed by mourners and supporters holding portraits of the late supreme leader, and others performing self-flagellation on the streets.
Khamenei’s body was in a casket draped in the Islamic Republic’s flag, encased in glass. Mourners waved flags of Iran as well as red and black flags symbolizing mourning and revenge.
“We the people of Iraq will remain a thorn in the eyes of the enemies,” said Jaafar Jawad, who is participating in the funeral. "His arrival to us is the greatest possible honor, and God willing we will be loyal, and repay a little of his due in the holy city of Najaf.”
The funeral prayers in Najaf will take place at the Shrine of Imam Ali, the Prophet Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, and will be led by Muhammad Taqi al-Hakim, a senior scholar at the Najaf seminary.
In Karbala, also a holy city for Shiite Muslims where the Imam Hussein, the grandson of the Prophet, was killed in 680 AD, Abdul Mahdi al-Karbalaei, a representative of Iraq's top Shiite religious authority will lead the prayers at the Imam Hussein Shrine.
Khamenei was killed in late February in wide-scale U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran. He was among several senior Iranian leaders killed in strikes during the war. He was 86.
Iran’s new supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has yet to make an appearance in the funeral ceremonies, which are unfolding over several days. He is believed to be in hiding after reportedly being wounded in the airstrike that killed his father.
Mourners surround a truck carrying the coffin of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a funeral procession in Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Mourners reach toward a truck carrying the coffin of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a funeral procession in Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
A truck carrying the coffin of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei makes its way through mourners during a funeral procession in Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Mourners reach toward a truck carrying the coffin of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a funeral procession in Najaf, Iraq, Wednesday, July 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Shiite mourners chant slogans as the perform ritual self-flagellation with chains outside the Imam Hussein Shrine on the eve of funeral ceremonies for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Karbala, Iraq, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
An Iraqi Shiite soldier chants on the eve of funeral ceremonies for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei outside the Imam Ali Shrine in Najaf, Iraq, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Mourners sit outside the Imam Hussein Shrine on the eve of of funeral ceremonies for the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Karbala, Iraq, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Portraits of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei are distributed outside the Imam Ali Shrine on the eve of funeral ceremonies in Najaf, Iraq, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Mourners wave Shiite religious flags and a portrait of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei outside the Imam Ali Shrine on the eve of funeral ceremonies in Najaf, Iraq, Tuesday, July 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
