French coach Hervé Renard has submitted his resignation from his position, 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 was not authorized to speak to the media, confirmed to AFP that Renard submitted his resignation and the Saudi Football Association accepted it. Bolivia’s match on Tuesday will be his last.
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.
The French women’s national team will compete in the Women’s World Cup between July and August 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.
Renard, 54, took charge of the Saudi national team in 2019 and led it to the 2022 World Cup after leading its Asian group. Last May, the Saudi Federation announced the renewal of the contract of the former coach of Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire until 2027.
A second source in the federation indicated that there had been negotiations going on for some time between the French federation and Renard, of which the Saudi federation was aware, and he continued: Everyone wanted him to stay.
