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Tottenham Hotspur have appointed Igor Tudor as their interim head coach until the end of the season, confirming a deal on Saturday with the experienced Croatian just three days after dismissing Thomas Frank following a dismal domestic run that left the club two positions above the Premier League relegation zone.
Tudor, 47, becomes the sixth permanent or interim head coach at Tottenham in less than seven years since Mauricio Pochettino’s departure in November 2019, underlining the managerial instability that has dogged the north London club through a period of significant infrastructure investment but diminishing competitive returns.
The appointment carries no option to extend into a permanent role. Tottenham’s senior leadership, including chief executive Vinai Venkatesham and technical director Johan Lange, will conduct a separate search for a permanent successor at the end of the campaign, with Tudor tasked solely with arresting the club’s immediate slide toward an unthinkable first relegation.
Tudor spoke of the gravity of the task in his first official statement. “It is an honour to join this club at an important moment. I understand the responsibility I have been handed and my focus is clear. To bring greater consistency to our performances and compete with conviction in every match. There is strong quality in this playing squad, and my job is to organise it, energise it and improve our results quickly.”
The Croatian is expected to be in place to take training from Monday, with his first competitive fixture the north London derby at home to Premier League leaders Arsenal on February 22. It is difficult to imagine a more pressurized introduction to a new job.
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Tudor has carved a reputation as a capable short-term crisis manager, with a track record of walking into struggling clubs and producing rapid improvements before relationships with boards deteriorate. He was appointed at Juventus and Lazio in March of each of the last two seasons, stabilizing results in the short term at both clubs. At Juventus in 2025, he inherited a side sitting fifth in Serie A after consecutive defeats and guided them to a fourth-place finish and Champions League qualification, losing just one of his first 11 matches in charge. That performance earned him a two-year contract — which Juventus terminated just four months later as results deteriorated again.
Juventus dismissed Tudor on October 27 following three straight defeats and an eight-match winless sequence that left the Italian club eighth in Serie A. He has been without a club since.
His managerial career spans ten appointments across nine clubs in thirteen years. Tudor won the Croatian Cup with Hajduk Split in 2013 before embarking on a circuit of European football that took him through PAOK, Karabukspor, Galatasaray, Udinese on two occasions, Hellas Verona, Marseille, Lazio, and two separate stints at Juventus. He earned 55 international caps for Croatia as a player, representing his country at the 1998 and 2006 World Cups and UEFA Euro 2004.
Tudor is expected to implement a defensively structured 3-4-2-1 system, though the current injury crisis at Tottenham — which has left the club without several senior wide players — may force early tactical compromises. He brings familiarity with at least two senior Spurs players: Dejan Kulusevski and Rodrigo Bentancur were both part of the Juventus squad during the 2020-21 season when Tudor served on Andrea Pirlo’s coaching staff, a connection that may accelerate the settling-in period.
Frank’s eight-month tenure ended Wednesday after a 2-1 home defeat to Newcastle extended a catastrophic run of one win in eleven Premier League matches. Frank had been appointed in the summer of 2025 when Ange Postecoglou was dismissed despite leading Tottenham to its first major trophy in 17 years by winning the Europa League and securing Champions League qualification. The transition from one coach to another without rebuilding the squad’s mentality proved fatal to Frank’s prospects.
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Despite the domestic collapse, Frank did oversee Tottenham’s progression to the Champions League round of sixteen, where they remain active, a context that adds further complexity to the club’s precarious position. Tudor will be expected to preserve European ambition while simultaneously fighting a relegation battle, a dual priority that has overwhelmed his predecessor.
Tottenham sit 16th in the Premier League on 23 points from 24 matches. Their next twelve fixtures will determine whether the club navigates a survival battle or faces the catastrophic financial, commercial, and reputational consequences of dropping out of the top flight for the first time in their modern history.
A permanent appointment is expected to be made after the season concludes. Candidates already linked with the role include former Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, who is currently contracted to lead the United States national team at the 2026 World Cup before becoming available again in the summer.
