Top five big Saudi Pro League managerial signings that failed horribly

Many successful managers failed to make an impression in the Saudi Pro League.

High-profile players like Neymar and Jordan Henderson have had difficulties after joining the Saudi Pro League, as we are all aware. However, what about the managers who have fallen short of their expectations?

Steven Gerrard, the legendary player for Liverpool, is not the only well-known figure who has not performed well in Saudi Arabia as a manager.

These five well-known head coaches have failed in the Saudi Pro League.

5. Slaven Bilic

Shortly after departing West Ham in 2018, when the Saudi Pro League received little attention, the seasoned Croatian took over as manager of Al-Ittihad. Due to a subpar midtable campaign, he was only there for a few months.

Following brief stints with West Brom, Beijing Guoan, and Watford—all of which felt somewhat right—Bilic returned to Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2023 to take over Al Fateh, a team with little star power, whose most well-known player is likely former Barcelona winger Cristian Tello.

Prior to their dismal 2024–25 relegation-doomed campaign, he guided them to a respectable seventh place until they mutually agreed to leave his position.

4. Rudi Garcia

When Al Nassr signed Cristiano Ronaldo, the former manager of Lyon, Marseille, and Roma was in command. However, he didn’t stay for the entire season and was fired by the time they added players like Marcelo Brozovic, Sadio Mane, and Aymeric Laporte to the team.

The writing was on the wall after Garcia allegedly infuriated Ronaldo by saying that one of his missed opportunities “changed the course of the match” during a Saudi Super Cup loss to Al-Ittihad.

AlNassr can announce that Head Coach Rudi Garcia has left the Club by mutual agreement.The board and everyone at AlNassr would like to thank Rudi and his staff for their dedicated work during the past 8 months. pic.twitter.com/6wx6p68f6N

— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) April 13, 2023

3. Marcelo Gallardo

When the Argentinean accepted the Saudi money and signed with Al-Ittihad in his first managerial position since leaving River Plate, there was a genuine sense that positive results would follow.

For him, it didn’t exactly work out, regrettably. As the results worsened considerably more than they had in Nuno’s last months, Al-Ittihad’s attempt to keep their title were dashed.

The team finished in a terribly disappointing fifth place in the Saudi Pro League, 42 points behind champions Al-Hilal, with Gallardo losing nearly as many games as he won.

2. Nuno Espirito Santo

Nuno recovered from his brief and unlucky time at Tottenham by leading Al-Ittihad to the Saudi Pro League championship in 2022–2023, his only full season there.

Nuno actually arrived six months before other star players such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar joined other Saudi clubs.

Nuno was fired a few months into the 2023–24 season after a run of subpar performances, even though his team was strengthened by additions like Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Jota, and Fabinho for his second season. There were several rumours of a falling out, namely with Benzema which led to his exit.

1. Steven Gerrard

Steven Gerrard moved into the limelight at Al-Ettifaq, where he was reportedly paid a ton of money after being fired by Aston Villa.

During his one full season as manager, Gerrard guided the team to sixth place, but in year two, the results have drastically declined. After a good 11 league games saw them win only one and lose seven, he resigned as manager. To be fair, his efforts were not in vain, even though the outcomes were, at best, inconsistent.

Steven Gerrard has asked to leave Al Ettifaq imminently, according to various reports. The pair are set to part ways through a mutual agreement 🤝 pic.twitter.com/Pb35J4fbuk

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 29, 2025

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