Rafael Benitez has completed an agreement with Panathinaikos to take over as coach of the Greek club on a two-year contract, succeeding Portuguese coach Rui Vitoria. This is the 17th job in the renowned Spanish coach’s career.
Benitez’s last coaching experience was with Celta Vigo, but the results were very poor and he was dismissed 18 months ago. Since then, the former Real Madrid coach has not taken over another club.
The owner of Panathinaikos met with Benitez in the past few hours in London, and they reached an agreement on all the details. The Spaniard will travel to Greece within hours to officially sign the contract to coach the famous club.
According to the Dutch newspaper “Telegraph”, Benitez will be the highest-paid coach in the Greek league, with an annual salary of up to 4 million euros.
Panathinaikos is seventh in the 14-team Greek Super League with 9 points from the first 6 rounds, 8 points behind leaders PAOK.
Panathinaikos is one of the most prestigious clubs in Greek history, having won the domestic league 20 times. However, throughout the 21st century, it has won the title only twice, the last of which was in 2010.
The 65-year-old Benitez has numerous achievements, most notably winning the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, La Liga with Valencia, and the Europa League with Chelsea. He also previously coached Real Madrid for a few months in 2015.
