Renard, tipped to join Les Bleues, leaves his post as coach of Saudi Arabia

Published on : 28/03/2023 – 22:02

Hervé Renard, tipped to take over the French women’s team, has resigned as coach of Saudi Arabia and is “determined to return to France to lead a national team there”, a source told AFP on Tuesday. internal to the Saudi Federation. “The game against Bolivia tonight is his last as a Saudi coach,” added this source, adding that the Saudi federation had “accepted” his resignation.

Four months before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Hervé Renard should take over from Corinne Deacon, who landed on March 9 against a background of internal revolt. The French Football Federation had been suspended for several days from negotiations between Renard and the Saudi federation. Time was running out as the announcement of the list of players for the April rally is expected on Thursday or Friday.

« We tried to talk him out of it, but he was determined to return to his country and lead a national team there. We can’t stop her from achieving her dream “, Continued this source, without specifying whether Hervé

Renard, under contract until 2027, had to negotiate this departure financially. The former defender, double winner of the African Cup of Nations, should therefore be preferred to several candidates, including Jocelyn Gourvennec, interviewed by a commission appointed in recent days within the FFF to carry out the recruitment process, but who then declined the proposal.

Renowned in men’s football, where multiple international experiences (Zambia, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Saudi Arabia) have enriched his CV… Hervé Renard has no experience at the head of a women’s team.

While there are only four preparation matches left – the first on April 7 in Clermont against Colombia – before Les Bleues enter the World Cup on July 23 in Sydney against Jamaica, Hervé Renard, if he is appointed coach, will have to get in tune with a world he knows little about.

(With AFP)