Saudi Arabia’s national team announced on Thursday that Roberto Mancini had resigned as coach following a mutual agreement ended his contract.
Herve Renard was replaced as coach of the Saudi national team in August 2023 by the 59-year-old Italian.
The Saudis lost to South Korea in a penalty shootout earlier this year, and under Mancini, they were eliminated from the Asian Cup in the round of 16.
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“The Saudi soccer federation’s Board of Directors and the national team coach, Italian Roberto Mancini reached a joint agreement on Thursday to end the contractual relationship,” the national team posted on social media platform X.
With five points, the Saudis are in third place in Group C in the third round of the World Cup preliminary stages in Asia.
After four games, they trail group leaders Japan by five points.
On October 10, they suffered a 2-0 home loss to Japan. Five days later, Bahrain held them to a scoreless draw.
While the bottom two finishers are eliminated and the third and fourth-place teams move on to another round of preliminary play, the top two teams in each group automatically qualify for the World Cup.