CHANGE. What’s occurring, Brighton?

What more could Brighton possibly want? The Seagulls are a club on the rise. They have a growing fan base, some head-turning acquisitions in the summer transfer window, and plans for the UK’s first purpose-built women’s stadium.

And yet. At the very last minute, just one week before the start of the new WSL season, they were suddenly in need of a new head coach…

Just as we dotted the i and crossed the t on the word ‘Brighton’, their highly-rated and immensely quotable head coach Dario Vidosic resigned, and he is heading for new, Californian pastures and the City of Angels. Probably.

Seagulls fans will miss Vidosic’s style of play, and us journos will miss his no-nonsense pressers. But change isn’t always a bad thing. And the club has great foundations. So anyone stepping in is inheriting a team that’s flourishing.

As now seems customary, it’s yet another Spanish head coach (the fourth in the WSL) who is joining the Seagulls. He is the departing Real Sociedad head coach, Arturo Ruiz (below, left0, who had a remarkable 2025-26 season, taking his team to third in Liga F, behind only Barcelona and Real Madrid, and sending them into the Champions League qualifiers. And he is – wait for it – only 29 years old.

Ruiz’s background is all in Spain’s Liga F. His first managerial position was at Atletico Madrid, who he also led to third place, before going onto Granada CF, and then onto Real Sociedad. The bad news for Sociedad is the timing of his departure, as he’s quit between the away and home legs of their UWCL tie against Chelsea.

Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor said she hadn’t played a Ruiz side before Chelsea encountered them, but when I pressed her further, she summed him up neatly as “a Spanish coach, coaching a Spanish team, so I expect him to play a Spanish style.”

For further insight, I asked Real Sociedad’s Czech star Klára Cahynová how Arturo Ruiz managed to keep the team improving, and her words should reassure nervous Brighton fans.

Cahynová said: “Well, he’s really demanding. We did a great job last year, but every single week, he wants more, he teaches us new things, but not just him, the whole coaching staff.

“They do everything they possibly can to prepare us for each game,” she added. “He always comes with a great plan for the game. All we have to do is stick to the plan and believe in it, and then let’s see what happens.”

Incoming

Before we hear direct from one of Brighton’s new, starry signings, Lia Wälti, let’s look at who else they’ve snapped up in a busy summer transfer window, and how they’ve performed pre-season.

Apart from Wälti, who comes from Arsenal via Juventus, the biggest name is probably Gabby George (below, left), from Man United, a defender who loves to push forward. And they’ve got a very decent and young alternate keeper behind Chiamaka Nnadozie, now Eleanor Heeps has joined from Tottenham.

Plus they’ve grabbed a couple of youngsters who lit up WSL2 last season, in prolific scorer Sophie Peskett from Ipswich, and exciting Irish international Emily Murphy from Newcastle. They’ll fit in well alongside the more experienced Kiko Seike and Madison Haley (below, centre). Less known here, but equally promising are incoming Norwegian midfielder Emilie Joramo, who starred for Hammarby, and Polish left winger Nadia Krezyman, who has joined from French side Dijon.

We all witnessed Brighton’s ability to upset the big four teams last season and even reach the women’s FA Cup Final, driven on by the likes of Fran Kirby – enjoying an Indian Summer in her career – and young Maisie Symonds. They’re also solid at the back, with Caitlin Hayes, Maelys Mpome and Moeke Minami, with young Aussie Charlie Rule also having a breakthrough season.

They are a very ambitious side on and off the pitch, and have made no secret of their desire to compete for a Champions League place.  

In their home pre-season friendly against PSG, Brighton had a lot of the possession against a side playing on the break. This feels like an evolution from the style that was very much defence-based last season, where they were excellent at pressing and disrupting the opposition’s game.

Vidosic presided over the Seagulls as they worked at improving on the ball, being more creative and grabbing more scoring opportunities. So it made a lot of sense to recruit someone like Lia Wälti, who can regulate play, adjust the tempo and find the right team balance while contributing defensively as always. The Aussie coach’s aim was to get players who could be flexible and understand different positions, and basically create a fluidity in how Brighton play.

Who knows whether new head coach Arturo Ruiz will follow the same template? You would imagine that the likes of George and Wälti joined mainly because of his predecessor’s vision, but maybe Ruiz will follow his lead. Before Vidosic departed, he was still hoping to strengthen the forward line, but mainly he went out of his way to praise the experience and calm leadership of the “terrific” Lia Wälti…

LIA WÄLTI

After just one season away from the WSL – playing for Juventus in Serie A Femminile – Lia Wälti is back in her favourite league. Maybe the speed of her return surprised some, but when you hear about her experience in Italy and her genuine love of the English game, it feels like a natural fit – and the move makes sense.

The Switzerland captain has always been a leader, but she is quick to praise Brighton’s staff and players for making her feel really welcome and helping all the new players to settle.

Looking round at the team, Wälti reckons Brighton not only have a really great midfield with loads of talent, but also a variety of profiles and age groups. And she says she will definitely bring all her experience into helping the other players.

Wälti wants to reach her own potential to help the team, finding her feet in pre-season, with a new style of play, and a necessarily big squad as there are so many more games now, in both the league and the cups.

Talking about her quick return to England, she notes that at Juventus it was a completely different style of play where they didn’t really have the ball a lot. But at Brighton it’s the opposite. Of course, she admits that when you go to a new team it’s on you to adapt, and also up to you to learn as quickly as possible.

In a nutshell, Wälti says the Seagulls are not a team that has to hide – not even against the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea and City. And they’ve backed that up in the last couple of seasons when they’ve been able to hurt teams. So she is confident, even though she knows they won’t be favourites in every single match.

First game is at home to – as fate dictates – Arsenal, but Wälti says she’ll be happy to see them and has kept on good terms. Of course, she also knows it will feel weird to play against them for the first time in a different kit.

But, she adds: that’s football, and she frequently experiences this in the national team too. “You play against your friends and you have to put that aside. I’m going to fight for my team, Brighton, now to get the points.”

Expanding on the differences between England and the rest of Europe, she observes that it’s both competitive and very professional in the WSL. But when she went abroad it showed the reality elsewhere. She found this sad, she says, “because I wish all of female football was as professional, not just in Europe, but all over the world had the same possibilities. And that’s not the case.”  

For Wälti this made it hard to enjoy football in the same way in Italy. She was hoping for something different, and reiterates that she missed the WSL’s professionalism, competition, and well, basically everything.

So it’s not surprising to hear her say that It almost feels like coming home. She knows what to do, where to go and how the system works. It feels only too familiar, and speaking the language is a bonus.

You sense her excitement about the season laid out ahead of Brighton, and what she feels is another huge difference, “playing in front of fans in cool stadiums” against opponents who really challenge you. Of course, they also got the taste for success in reaching the FA Cup Final, and are hungry to do it again.

The aim for Wälti and the rest of this evolving team is to build and not just play well against the ‘bigger’ teams while dropping points against sides where they’d be expected to win. “So that’s the next step,” she says. “To be more composed on the ball, create more chances and not just keep the ball, but go for goals.”

Luckily, our writer Sylvain Jamet was there at the 1-1 draw with PSG at Brighton’s Amex Stadium, and asked Wälti more about her return.

Would you say the WSL is actually a league that fits your strengths very well because everybody knows you’re very good in transition defensively and offensively?

So is that kind of football the best for you?

I don’t know. I have not played in that many different leagues. If you play in a league for a long time, you adapt to it and you know how it goes, so maybe it looks like it now fits my style of play.

But there are probably other leagues as well where you can adapt as a player and fit in, but I feel very comfortable in England.

I know the style of play here, even though every team is really different.

I’m happy and when you’re happy and confident it’s easier to perform at your best.

I’m really happy to be here, it’s a great team.

Photos: Helen M Jerome, Brighton