The official, who preferred not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed to AFP that “Runard submitted his resignation and the Saudi Football Association accepted it. Today’s Bolivia match is his last match.”
French coach Herve Renard has submitted his resignation from his post, an official in the Saudi Football Federation told Agence France-Presse on Tuesday, amid reports that he had accepted an offer to coach his country’s women’s national team.
The official, who preferred not to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed to AFP that “Runar submitted his resignation and the Saudi Football Association accepted it. Today’s Bolivia match is his last match.” He added, “We tried to dissuade him from his decision, but he was determined to return to his country and train his country’s national team.” We can’t stop him from dreaming.”
It is noteworthy that the French women’s national team will compete in the World Cup for women between July and August next in Australia and New Zealand.
The official pointed out that the Saudi Federation is “happy with Renard’s period in the leadership of Al-Akhdar,” which witnessed his leadership of Saudi Arabia to achieve a historic victory over Argentina in the opening match of its group in the World Cup Qatar 2022, on the way to “Albi Silici” to win the world title.
The 54-year-old, Renard, took over the leadership of the Saudi national team in 2019 and led it to the 2022 World Cup after leading its Asian group. And the Saudi Federation announced last May the renewal of the contract of Ronard, the former coach of Morocco and the urgent coast, until 2027.
A second source in the federation indicated, “There have been negotiations going on for some time between the French federation and Ronard, of which the Saudi federation was aware,” and added, “Everyone wanted him to stay.” The two sources did not clarify whether the French coach would pay the penalty clause in his contract or not, but Saudi newspapers indicated that he would pay it.
