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The German coach has put Al-Raqi in trouble
German Matthias Jeisel, the coach of Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahly, was not the first coach to decide to leave Al-Raqi’s coaching job during the professional league era, as two other coaches had preceded him.
Media reports have confirmed that Yaisla has resigned as Al-Ahly manager today, Thursday, to take charge of Newcastle United next season, replacing his former coach Eddie Howe.
33 training era
Since the beginning of the professional era in the Saudi League in the 2008-2009 season, Al-Ahli has undergone 33 coaching operations for various reasons.
These changes included several coaches who took over more than once, such as Switzerland’s Christian Gross, some who were appointed on an interim basis, such as Saleh Al-Muhammadi, and some who did so more than once, such as Youssef Anbar.
However, none of those 33 changes voluntarily left the training of “Al-Ahly”, except for 3 coaches, the last one of whom was the German Matthias Zeisen. Saudi Al-Riyadiya newspaper.
Vitor Pereira…sudden departure and possible return
The first to resign as Al-Ahly coach was Portugal’s Vitor Pereira, after he led the team for one season in 2013-2014, and ironically, he is currently one of the candidates to succeed Yasla.
At the end of the 2013-2014 season, Pereira had one more season left on his contract with Al-Ahly, and the Saudi club wanted to continue even if he demanded double his salary, according to what their president admitted at the time. Prince Fahd bin Khalid.
Pereira finished third in the Saudi League with Al-Ahly and also reached the final of the Guardian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup before a 3-0 defeat by Al-Shabaab and came under fire after the game.
Some believed that this attack was the real reason for the Portuguese coach’s departure, but he stated that it was due to special circumstances in his country that forced him to leave despite wanting to stay with Al-Raqi.
Indeed, Vitor Pereira did not move directly into coaching a team until January 2015, when he took over at Olympiakos, before embarking on a long journey with several clubs such as Fenerbahce, 1860 München, Shanghai, Corinthians, Flamengo, Al-Shabaab, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest.
Strangely, when Vitor Pereira returned to the Rushen League in early 2024 to lead the youth team, he quickly left at the end of the same year for the same reasons as Yisla, after receiving an offer to work with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League.
The Portuguese coach has been linked with a return to the Rossoneri again next season as he has been nominated to take charge of Al Hilal, replacing Italian Simone Inzaghi, and he has also now entered the Al-Ahli accounts to replace Yaslah.
Christian Gross.. Departure of Heroes
Following Pereira’s departure, Swiss coach Christian Gross took over at Al-Ahly in 2014, leading them to the Crown Prince Cup. He also excelled in the Saudi League but finished second behind Al-Nasr.
The second season was the best in Al-Ahly’s history, and arguably Gross’s as well, as he led the “elegant” Swiss coach to a first-ever Saudi League double and the Guardian of the Two Holy Mosques Cup.
At that time, Al-Ahli offered the Swiss coach to extend his contract, which had already expired, but he refused, stressing that he needed to rest after two seasons of hard work in the Saudi League.
Gross denied there were any financial disputes between him and Al-Ahly management over the renewal, stressing that it was down to family circumstances that prevented him from continuing with the Saudi Arabian team.
Strangely, this respite didn’t last long as Gros returned to lead Al-Ahly in October 2016 after the negative results the team suffered under Portuguese coach Jose Gomez.
The Swiss coach continued until the end of the season without leading the team to any titles before he stepped down and was replaced by Ukrainian Sergey Rebrov.
The strangest thing is that Gross returned to Al-Ahly for a third time in October 2019, but this time the end was harsh as he was sacked about 4 months after his appointment due to poor results.
