Losing your manager eight days before the season kicks off is the kind of thing that keeps a sporting director up at night. Brighton have just lived that nightmare — and they've moved fast enough to suggest they were already watching the exit signs.
As we reported when [Dario Vidosic confirmed he was stepping down](/getohedz/football/dario-vidosic-to-step-down-as-brighton-manager-and-is), the Croatia-born Australian caught much of Brighton's own squad off guard with the timing. Two years, a fifth-place WSL finish in 2025, and the club's first-ever Women's FA Cup final at Wembley — then out, chasing a new chapter in Los Angeles. He's understood to be the frontrunner for the Angel City head coach role, though the NWSL side are saying publicly they won't make an appointment until the current season ends, and that interim boss Leif Smerud is doing fine in the meantime. Make of that what you will.
Who is Arturo Ruiz?
Brighton haven't brought in a safe pair of hands to weather the storm — they've gone and signed someone with real ambition behind him. Ruiz took Real Sociedad to third in Liga F last season, which earned them a place in the Women's Champions League qualifying rounds. He did that job well enough that they're currently in those qualifiers right now, trailing Chelsea 5-2 on aggregate after the first leg. That's not a shabby set of credentials to bring to the WSL.
He's signed on a three-year deal, subject to a work permit being finalised — that caveat matters, but Brighton wouldn't have announced this publicly if they didn't expect it to go through. Women's football managing director Zoe Johnson said Ruiz "quickly stood out" during their recruitment process and pointed to his record of developing players and teams as the reason for the confidence they're placing in him.
For his part, Ruiz posted a heartfelt goodbye to Real Sociedad on Instagram, acknowledging that the farewell wasn't the one he'd have chosen given the timing. "Together we've experienced something spectacular," he wrote, "which will leave a lasting memory for each and every one of us." You can understand the complicated feelings — he's leaving a squad mid-European campaign.
The WSL season is around the corner
There's no time to ease into this. Brighton start their new WSL campaign next weekend, and Ruiz is walking into a group of players who were reportedly blindsided by Vidosic's departure. That's a tricky dynamic — settling a squad that didn't see the change coming, while simultaneously learning a new environment and getting his own ideas across.
It's also worth noting that for the [Chelsea WSL preview](/getohedz/football/womens-super-league-2026-27-preview-no-6-chelsea) readers among us — Brighton's new coach has just watched his old side lose 5-2 to them. He'll know exactly what the top of this division looks like.
Johnson's public statement was warm but measured. Vidosic gets credit for the history-making run, and Ruiz gets the job of pushing beyond it.
Our take: Brighton have handled a chaotic week as well as they could. Ruiz is a proper appointment — someone who's done it at a high level in Liga F, not a stop-gap. The work permit situation needs resolving sharpish, but if this lands cleanly, the club have turned a potential crisis into something that could genuinely excite their supporters heading into the new season.