Saudi Arabia’s national team announced on Thursday that Roberto Mancini had resigned as coach following a mutual agreement ended his contract.
Herve Renard was replaced as coach of the Saudi national team in August 2023 by the 59-year-old Italian.
The Saudis lost to South Korea in a penalty shootout earlier this year, and under Mancini, they were eliminated from the Asian Cup in the round of 16.
“The Saudi soccer federation’s Board of Directors and the national team coach, Italian Roberto Mancini reached a joint agreement on Thursday to end the contractual relationship,” the national team posted on social media platform X.
With five points, the Saudis are in third place in Group C in the third round of the World Cup preliminary stages in Asia.
After four games, they trail group leaders Japan by five points.
On October 10, they suffered a 2-0 home loss to Japan. Five days later, Bahrain held them to a scoreless draw.
While the bottom two finishers are eliminated and the third and fourth-place teams move on to another round of preliminary play, the top two teams in each group automatically qualify for the World Cup.
