Football managers have long been sartorially scrutinised, from Arsene Wenger tussling with his oversized puffer jacket to the universal admiration for Pep Guardiola’s impeccable taste in turtlenecks. At the 2022 World Cup, it will be difficult to find a more suave man in the dugouts of Qatar than Saudi Arabia coach Herve Renard.
Forget Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe, Renard and his trademark crisp white shirt might be the most iconic pairing in international football. The 2018 World Cup provided many people with their first introduction to the Frenchman’s signature look, which set social media ablaze each time he stalked the touchline as Morocco coach in Russia. But the real origins of Renard’s open-collared white shirt can be traced back 12 years, to his time as coach of the Zambia national team.
“We were playing in the second game of the [2010] Africa Cup of Nations against Cameroon,” Renard recalls. “I wore a light blue shirt, but we lost 3-2 so in the following game, I wore a white shirt. We won and finished first in the group, in front of Cameroon.”
It was the birth of a superstition that has lasted more than a decade. “Of course I have lost some games since then,” laughs the Frenchman. “Maybe I even lost a lot. But I also won many. I like this style but I’d say the weather has to be nice. When I coached in England, the white shirt in December was not possible. Or maybe this is the reason I wasn’t successful in England!”
Renard’s short-lived stint in England was in the insalubrious surrounds of Cambridge United, a fourth division side who he saved from relegation. He was convinced to move there by long-time mentor Claude Le Roy, the maverick coach who had – at last count – managed teams in 13 different countries including Oman, Syria and the UAE.
Le Roy has been nothing short of an inspiration for Renard, whose penchant for adventure and coaching journey across three continents bears more than a passing resemblance to his senior confrere.
“Sometimes I get emotional talking about Claude Le Roy because really he changed my life,” Renard says, blinking back the tears. “He gave me my first overseas job as his assistant in China [in 2002] and he believed in me. If I’m at the World Cup now, it’s because of him.”
While guiding Saudi Arabia to this year’s finals in Qatar is an impressive feat, the finest achievement of Renard’s career came in 2012 when tournament outsiders Zambia defied the odds to beat a star-studded Ivory Coast team in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
It was a football fairytale, laced with emotion. In 1993, a plane carrying the Zambia national team crashed off the coast of Libreville, Gabon, killing an entire generation of players who had been on the cusp of World Cup qualification. Nineteen years later Renard’s Zambia would pay the ultimate tribute by reaching the AFCON final: in Libreville.
“The day before the final, we went to the beach in Gabon,” Renard recalls. “We wanted to remind all the Zambian people that we would play for them, for players who died in Libreville. The final was something very spiritual.”
Renard was able to help his Zambia players channel the tragedy into motivation to achieve one of football’s biggest ever upsets. Across Africa, neutral fans urged them on in the final, most just hoping that the underdogs wouldn’t be blown away by an Ivory Coast team led by Didier Drogba and Yaya Toure.
But after a battling 0-0 draw it was unheralded Zambia centre-back Stoppila Sunzu who stole the spotlight from Ivory Coast’s global icons, keeping his cool to convert the winning penalty in an astonishing 8-7 shootout win.
“We reduced the gap with our fantastic team spirit. Something came from somewhere,” Renard recalls. “You can have the best 11 player in the world but if they don’t want to play together, it will be difficult, a disaster. Team spirit is everything in football – it is a great leveller.”
“Keep humility when you receive compliments and ignore bad comments when you don’t deserve them. My focus is on making the Saudi Arabia fans proud.”
Herve Renard
Three years later Renard repeated his triumph, this time as Ivory Coast coach, ending the Elephants’ 23-year wait for a second AFCON title and becoming the first coach to win the tournament with two different nations. Renard has enjoyed extraordinary international success but has not yet managed to replicate the approach at club level. The Frenchman says he simply prefers coaching countries.
“National teams are something very special,” Renard explains. “It is the identity for the nation. When players represent their countries it is always with passion and with their heart. This is why I love coaching national teams.”
Now at the helm of Saudi Arabia, Renard has imbued his Green Falcons side with the kind of team spirit that has become his coaching calling card.
The Saudi Football Federation (SAFF) has long had a reputation for being trigger happy with coaches – prior to Renard’s arrival there had been 10 managers in eight years – but the unfailingly charming Frenchman appears to have earned the respect and trust of those in power in the Kingdom.
“I can honestly say that in the last three years we didn’t have one problem. Everyone is on the same page, going the same way,” Renard says. “We dreamed about this World Cup. We made it.”
Expectations in the Kingdom are high that the Class of 2022 could emulate the country’s best ever World Cup run – to the second round in the United States in 1994 – as Renard has assembled what is widely regarded as one of the most exciting Saudi teams in years.
“Some people are saying this but some other people are saying I’m bad,” Renard says. “As a coach you try not to listen too much. Keep humility when you receive compliments and ignore bad comments when you don’t deserve them. My focus is on making the Saudi Arabia fans proud.”
Those supporters have been queueing up to offer Renard good luck messages ahead of the World Cup, though it hasn’t always been that way. The ex-Zambia coach says, contrary to his experience in Africa, that nobody recognised him when he first moved to the Kingdom.
“I was a bit surprised,” Renard chuckles. “But I said to myself ‘this is a good challenge, they don’t know you very well now, but you have to do your best to be well known in Saudi Arabia’. Now it’s a bit different and fans are always speaking to me.”
Renard’s Saudi side blends the experience of established stars like Salem Al-Dawsari and Salman Al Faraj with younger talent like Abdulelah Al-Amri, Sami Al-Najei and Firas Al-Buraikan. Renard gave the latter his debut aged 19 and the forward has been an ever present in the Saudi set-up since then.
“You always have to find a good balance in your squad because experienced players will help guide the young players, but also the young players will put pressure on the experienced players which is a good thing. Our young players are fearless and I know they are excited to play in Qatar.”
That anticipation is borne out of one of Saudi Arabia’s most successful World Cup qualifying campaigns, which saw just one loss in 18 matches – away to Japan. But the Green Falcons unquestionably remain among the underdogs in Qatar, with a pre-tournament report from sports analytics company Opta suggesting their statistical chance of winning the World Cup is a discouraging 0.00%.
The composition of Saudi Arabia’s group likely has something to do with it. Having pitted his wits against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal in 2018, Renard must find a way to keep two of the world’s most prolific forwards at bay this time around. Argentina’s Lionel Messi and Poland’s Robert Lewandowski will line up against Saudi Arabia in the opening two Group C matches.
“When you dream about coaching football you dream about these kinds of games,” says Renard, unfazed. “Of course we know we are one of the lowest teams in this World Cup but I still know it won’t be easy to play against us – I’m sure of this.”
Renard is determined that this Saudi Arabia side will avoid the sort of embarrassing results suffered in previous World Cups, with some fans still traumatized by the 8-0 demolition at the hands of Germany in 2002 and 5-0 loss to Russia in 2018. The Frenchman has repeatedly talked about giving a ‘positive image’ of Saudi Arabia at the tournament, and insists his players believe they can make an impact at the inaugural Gulf World Cup.
“I made the same comments last time with Morocco. The people in Saudi Arabia know football very well. They know we are not a team like Argentina, even Mexico or Poland. They are better than us. But in football, it doesn’t matter – you can make a difference with your psychological approach,” he says.
“Team spirit, playing with a big heart for your country – these things can make all the difference. We are in the Middle East. We’re a neighbour of Qatar and we’ll have a lot of support. We are ready.”