The new coach of the Saudi national team will be European
Yasser Al Misehal, President of the Saudi Arabian Football Federation, said that the new national team coach will be European, stressing that Spanish coach Luis Enrique is not among the options on the table.
Frenchman Herve Renard resigned as coach of Saudi Arabia in March to lead France's women's team at the World Cups in Australia and New Zealand this year. The SAFF announced at the time that it would not rush to hire a new coach.
Al-Misehal, who won a new four-year term until 2027 as president of the Saudi Sports Company (SSC) network, said, "There are several criteria for choosing the coach of the first team, including that he has a very respected name in the world of round ball, that he has a fingerprint in any training station he led, in addition to that his football thought suits Saudi football and that he has the ambition to achieve achievements. We have three options and with two of them I have reached the final stages and they belong to the European School."
Al-Misehal expressed his desire to watch Lionel Messi in the Saudi Professional League "to complete the qualitative leap of our league after signing Cristiano Ronaldo."
The reports linked the Argentine player who won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar to the possibility of moving to the Saudi league, especially with Al-Hilal, after the transfer of his eternal rival Ronaldo to Al-Nasr Club.
Al Misehal said there was nothing official yet about the desire to host the 2030 World Cup, "as we are waiting for the regulations that will be issued regarding the conditions for applying, but hosting any world tournament is our legitimate right."
"But of course, we aspire to host the biggest global tournaments after winning the hosting of the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, competing to host the 2026 AFC Women's Asian Cup, and having the honour of hosting the Club World Cup next December for the first time in the Kingdom's history."