Saudi Arabia’s charismatic national team coach, Herve Renard, has resigned from his position less than six months after Saudi Arabia history making performance at the FIFA World Cup.
On Tuesday night, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) announced that it had agreed to terminate the Frenchman’s contract at his request and thanked him for his work.
It is reported that Renard made the request to leave his role so he can take over the head coach role of the France women’s team ahead of this year’s Women’s World Cup.
Renard’s four-year tenure not only saw the Green Falcons cause one of the greatest comeback-shocks in World Cup history, famously defeating eventual winners Argentina 2-1, but he also helped ushering in an exciting new generation of footballers from The Kingdom that has laid the ground work for a bright future.
Renard’s last match in charge of Saudi Arabia ended in defeat on March 28, as the Green Falcons lost 2-1 to Bolivia in a friendly match in Jeddah.
After the match the former Ivory Coast coach thanked Saudi Arabia for its support during his tenure but said he felt he had taken the team as far as he could.
During the recent World Cup, a video of Renard’s impassioned half-time speech against Argentina famously went viral, especially with the performance that his Saudi team gave in the second half.