Hervé Renard, tipped to take over the French women’s football team, has resigned as coach of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudi Federation “has accepted the termination of the contract” of the French coach, ” at his request “while he was engaged since 2019 and until 2027, officially announced, Tuesday March 28, the Saudi national team on Twitter, specifying that a “legal agreement has been reached to terminate the contract between the two parties”. Hervé Renard had a release clause of around several million euros.
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“The game against Bolivia [mardi] evening is his last as Saudi coach”, had previously declared to Agence France-Presse (AFP), a source internal to the Saudi federation. He is “determined to return to France to lead a national team there”added this source.
At the end of the friendly match lost 2 to 1, Hervé Renard thanked, in front of the media, ” everyone in Saudi Arabia for the full support for four years”. “I think I did my best with the team, I couldn’t reach a higher level, I prefer to be honest with everyone”said the man who notably beat Argentina in the group match of the World Cup in Qatar in November 2022.
Hurry up
On the side of the French Football Federation, which had been suspended for several days from negotiations between Hervé Renard and the Saudi federation, the Comex will meet on Friday afternoon to “to ratify the choice of the new coach”said another source familiar with the matter to AFP.
Four months before the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the French technician should succeed Corinne Deacon, who landed on March 9 against the backdrop of certain executive players. Time is running out as the announcement of the list of players selected for the April rally is expected on Thursday or Friday.
“We tried to talk him out of it, but he was determined to go back to his country and lead a national team there. We can’t stop him from realizing his dream.”the insider continued.
The former defender, double winner of the African Cup of Nations – with Zambia in 2012 then Côte d’Ivoire in 2015 – should therefore be preferred to several candidates, including Jocelyn Gourvennec, auditioned by a commission appointed by the latter days within the FFF to carry out the recruitment process, but who then declined the proposal.
Multiple international experiences
Renowned in men’s football, where multiple international experiences have enriched his CV (Zambia, Ivory Coast, Morocco, Saudi Arabia), 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 the Blues 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.
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The ninth coach in the history of Les Bleues could be helped in his new mission by a staff more experienced than him in women’s football, a valuable asset both in physical preparation and in the study of opponents. The name of Eric Blahic, former assistant to Corinne Deacon, appreciated by several players, has come back insistently in the debates of the last few days.
If he is appointed, Renard’s priority, before the announcement of the list expected at the end of the week, will be to convince the rebels to return to the selection. Captain Wendie Renard – unrelated to him – and attackers Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani had clearly announced their withdrawal from Les Bleues, conditioning their return on “profound changes” in the « management ». He could also choose to recall Lyon striker Eugénie Le Sommer or PSG goalkeeper Sarah Bouhaddi, long dismissed by Corinne Deacon.