The name of French football legend and Real Madrid Zinedine Zidane topped the list of names nominated to take over the task of coaching the Saudi national team, to succeed his compatriot Hervé Renard.
The Saudi Football Association announced yesterday that it had accepted Renard’s resignation after more than 4 months of leading the Green Falcons in the World Cup in Qatar and winning the opening match against Argentina.
The list of candidates to take over the task, according to the Saudi Al-Riyadh newspaper, includes: Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, coach of the Turkish Fenerbahçe team, Saudi Saad Al-Shehri, and Roberto Mancini, coach of the Italian national team.
The newspaper quoted sources as saying that there is a possibility of entering new names to take over the technical helm of the green, in preparation for the upcoming benefits, foremost of which is the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup.
Yesterday, Yasser Al-Mishal, President of the Saudi Football Association, announced that he would take care in the decision to appoint a new coach, and take enough time to choose the alternative name.
And he indicated that the French, Nasser Larit, the coach of the federation, decided to give the national team players a rest during the next downtime, which will be in June after the end of the season, and the name of the new coach will not be announced before this month, stressing that they will review all the files and evaluate them with the coach.
Renard, 54, took charge of the Saudi national team in 2019 and led it to the 2022 World Cup after winning its Asian group.
And the Saudi Federation announced, last May, the renewal of the contract of Hervé, the former coach of Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire, until 2027.
Yesterday, the Saudi national team lost to its Bolivian guest, 1-2, at Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Stadium, at the end of its preparatory camp in Jeddah, coinciding with the international break for "FIFA,Football,Soccer days".
