Saad Al-Shehri

Lore & Background

He formerly played for Al-Ettifaq, Al-Nassr, Al-Qadsiah, Al-Jubail, and Al-Thoqbah. He was a member of the Saudi Arabia U20 national team in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship in Nigeria. He began his managerial career with the Eastern Region Education Team in 2008. In 2010, Al-Shehri signed a contract to manage Al-Qadsiah's U17 team.

With Al-Qadsiah, Al-Shehri achieved promotion from the Regional League to the U17 Premier League. The following season under Al-Shehri's supervision, Al-Qadsiah managed to avoid relegation and remain in the U17 Premier League. In the 2011–12 season, Al-Qadsiah won the U19 Premier League with Al-Shehri as manager. Al-Shehri then moved on to work as an assistant manager for Saudi Arabia U20 and won the U17 GCC Championship.

On May 28, 2013, Al-Shehri was appointed as the manager of Al-Nassr's U19 team. He led Al-Nassr to the U19 Premier League championship in the 2014–2015 season. Following the expiry of his contract with the U20 national team, Al-Shehri signed with Al-Nahda on June 16, 2017. However, the contract was canceled for administrative reasons on July 13, 2017.

On July 15, 2017, Al-Shehri signed a contract to manage Al-Ettifaq's U23 team. On June 28, 2015, Al-Shehri was appointed as the Saudi Arabia U20 national team manager. Al-Shehri led the U20 national team to the final of the 2016 AFC U-19 Championship where they lost to Japan on penalties. He also led the young falcons to the Round of 16 of the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup which equalized their best performance.

Following the dismissal of first-team coach, Miodrag Ješić, on 10 December 2017, Al-Shehri was appointed as manager of Al-Ettifaq until the end of the season. On 15 March 2018, it was announced that Saad Al-Shehri would take charge of the Saudi Arabia U23 national team. He left Al-Ettifaq at the end of the season to become the full-time manager of the U23 national team. Al-Shehri's first tournament with the U23 national team was the 2018 Asian Games.

Al-Shehri led the U23 national team to the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship after finishing among the best group runners-up during the qualification phase. The Saudi Arabia U23 national team qualified to the 2020 Summer Olympics for the first time since the 1996 Summer Olympics and third overall as runners-up in the 2020 AFC U-23 Championship under the management of Saad Al-Shehri.

Reader's Guide

Saad Al-Shehri is a Saudi Arabian football manager and former player. He has managed various club and national youth teams, including Al-Qadsiah, Al-Nassr, Al-Ettifaq, Saudi Arabia U20, Saudi Arabia U23, and the senior Saudi Arabia national team on an interim basis. His notable achievements include winning the U19 Premier League with Al-Qadsiah in 2011–12, the U19 Premier League with Al-Nassr in 2014–15, the AFC U-23 Asian Cup in 2022, and the WAFF U-23 Championship in 2022.