Roberto Mancini is Saudi Arabia’s new football coach: Must know facts about the Azurri

Image credit: SaudiFF/Twitter

Roberto Mancini has been named as the new coach of the Saudi Arabia national football team. The former coach of the Italian national team had resigned his job in Rome earlier this month. “I made history in Europe, now is time to make history with Saudi,” Mancini said in a video posted on social media platform Twitter.

He added, “The whole world recognises the enormous potential of the Saudi Arabia national team during their outstanding performance at the World Cup. The scenes of the fans following that victory was immense. They left their mark on the global stage, filling Saudi Arabian football fans with immense pride and accelerating the nation’s footballing ambitions. We have the potential to improve further.”

“The squad is strong with talented players. I believe we have what it takes to elevate our game if we work hard.”

Meanwhile, the Saudi national team who apart from Morocco were the surprise breakout stars after beating eventual champions Argentina in the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, have been without a coach since Herve Renard quit.

According to reports in the Italian media, Mancini arrived in Riyadh on Monday to attend a presentation event and sign a contract until 2027. The former Azurri coach has reportedly been signed on as the national team manager for EUR25m ($27m) net per year.

شريطٌ من الذكريات تبدأ بعده رحلة كتابة التاريخ مع الأخضر ??? pic.twitter.com/AhJzClKsyf

— المنتخب السعودي (@SaudiNT) August 27, 2023

5 facts about Robert Mancini

1. Mancini coached the Italian team for five years
2. The Azurris won the European Championship under Mancini but missed out on qualification for the World Cup
3. Mancini is a three-time Serie A winner as Inter Milan manager
4. He is also credited with being the brain behind Manchester City’s first Premier League title in 2012
5. The former Italian player holds the record for winning the most Coppa Italia titles, despite retiring his boots 20 years ago. Mancini won a total of six Italian Cups during his time with Sampdoria (4) and Lazio (2).

Mancini, after his signing, is set to make his debut on Sept 8 against Costa Rica. He said the immediate aim is to perform at the Asian Cup, “Our target is to try and win the Asian Cup after 27 years”. “Our target before that is we have four friendly matches, we have two games in World Cup qualification [Cambodia or Pakistan, and Jordan] and after that 20 days [camp] to prepare for the Asian Cup.

“We know there are many top teams, like Japan, South Korea and Australia, but I’m sure if we prepare we can achieve this.”

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