Who will replace Marcelo Gallardo as Saudi Arabia’s Al Ittihad coach?

Al Ittihad president Loay Nazer confirmed on Thursday that the club has parted ways with coach Marcelo Gallardo. The Argentine tactician arrived following the dismissal of 2022-23 title-winning coach Nuno Espirito Santo in November but was unable to engineer a reversal in fortunes, with Al Ittihad finishing fifth in the table and failing to qualify for the first edition of the new AFC Champions League Elite.

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Nazer detailed that Gallardo’s exit was because he made “significant mistakes by requesting the removal of [Karim] Benzema, which is unacceptable. He is an essential part of Saudi Arabia’s and the club’s project.”

A strained relationship with Benzema was also reportedly behind Nuno’s departure from the Jeddah giant.

Al Ittihad has “two or three options” for its new coach according to Nazer; here, Al Arabiya English explores who could be in line to take the hotseat at King Abdullah Sports City.

Stefano Pioli

The former AC Milan manager has emerged as an earlier front-runner, with Italian media reporting that he is already in negotiations with Al Ittihad. The 58-year-old was a Serie A and European Cup winner with Juventus as a player and after somewhat of a journeyman coaching career - taking in 13 clubs in 14 years - he settled at AC Milan in 2019.

Guiding the club through a transitional period, Pioli masterminded Milan’s first Serie A title triumph in 11 years and stayed at the San Siro for five years before departing at the end of the 2023-24 season. With a strong reputation for tactical flexibility and a good history of working with young players, Pioli appears on paper a good fit for an Al Ittihad side that urgently needs a kickstart ahead of the new season.

Massimiliano Allegri

Italian coach Allegri is one of the most decorated managers in Serie A history;
only the great Giovanni Trapattoni has won more than Allegri’s six titles. He claimed his first with Milan in 2011 but added five more - in succession between 2014 and 2019 - during a period of total domination with Juventus. He is a born winner, whose man-management and tactical nous have been praised in equal measure.

Allegri is regarded as one of the best coaches of the modern era, though - like Pioli - he is as yet untested outside of his native Italy. Still, should Ittihad convince Allegri to move to the Kingdom it would arguably represent the biggest coaching coup in the history of Saudi club football.

Mauricio Pchettino

Another box office name who would bring instant managerial star quality to Al Ittihad and the Saudi Pro League, Pochettino is available after a difficult season with Chelsea. Despite the Blues’ eventual sixth-place finish and his exit, Pochettino also took his side to the League Cup final and FA Cup semi-final, with the team’s style of play regularly praised.

Pochettino had been linked with the Manchester United job but with Erik Ten Hag now confirmed to stay at Old Trafford, the Argentine coach could be a more realistic target for Ittihad. In a recent interview with UK radio station TalkSPORT, Pochettino said: “I have full energy… Now we just wait and see what happens. In football you never know, things can happen today, nothing but tomorrow can appear and any opportunity, we are open to listen.”

Sergio Conceicao

Ex-Portugal international midfielder Conceicao shocked Porto fans last month when he left the club, weeks after signing a contract until 2028. It ended a seven-year tenure in Porto that brought 10 trophies including three league titles for Conceicao, who had also been a three-time champion with the club as a player.

Conceicao has transitioned from an astute midfielder into an astute manager and is certainly one of the most attractive coaching names currently available. He has some experience of the Gulf having played for Kuwaiti side Qadsia towards the end of his career and would join a host of compatriots in the Saudi Pro League. There are currently four Portuguese coaches in the division: Jorge Jesus (Al Hilal), Pedro Emanuel (Al Khaleej), Luis Castro (Al Nassr) and Fabiano Flora (Al Kholood).

Zinedine Zidane

The iconic French midfielder’s name is always linked with coaching vacancies, but he has not been persuaded by a new challenge since leaving Real Madrid in 2001. It was under Zidane at the Bernabeu that Karim Benzema played arguably the best football of his career and a reunion might spark the Ittihad forward into life after a stilted debut season.

Zidane and Benzema won three successive UEFA Champions League titles together at the Bernabeu between 2015 and 2018, as well as eight other trophies in a silverware-laden spell for Real Madrid. Zidane was heavily linked with Al Nassr last summer but has consistently said he is waiting for the right role before returning to coaching.

Matthias Jaissle

He couldn’t, could he? A much more left-field possibility but Jaissle, the coach of Al Ittihad’s cross-city rivals Al Ahli, impressed last season when he led the newly promoted club to a third-placed finish in the Saudi Pro League and qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite. That included securing a famous home and away double over Ittihad to give Ahli fans long-awaited bragging rights in Jeddah.

Jaissle has demonstrated his pedigree in the Kingdom but it would be a hugely controversial move and seems unlikely given the quality of external candidates. Only one man this century has managed both clubs, with Serbian Dimitrije Davidović coaching Al Ittihad five times between 1996 and 2011. Still a much-admired figure at Ittihad, Davidović did - for the 2002-03 season - take the helm at Al Ahli, though he never moved directly between the clubs.

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