On the club’s official website, Al Nassr announced the decision to appoint Mr. Stefano Pioli as the new coach and the contract takes effect immediately.

After Al Nassr’s disappointing start in the 2024/25 AFC Champions League, Al Nassr’s board of directors decided to fire Portuguese coach Luis Castro. In fact, it was not because Al Nassr drew with Al Shorta that Castro had to leave. This was a decision based on Al Nassr’s actual performance throughout the entire process. Specifically, Cristiano Ronaldo’s compatriot had to leave Al-Nassr after a series of disappointing matches at the beginning of the 2024/25 season. CR7’s team only won 2/6 matches (lost 1, drew 3) despite possessing many expensive stars and ambitions to conquer major tournaments.

In the above series, Al Nassr disappointed when they lost in the Saudi Arabia Super Cup match against rivals Al-Hilal. Currently, Al Nassr is ranked 7th in the Saudi League, 4 points behind the top team Al-Ittihad (5 vs 9) and most recently, they disappointed in their first match in the AFC Champions League.

Less than 24 hours after announcing Castro’s dismissal, Al Nassr immediately had a replacement and their new captain is a much more famous name. Accordingly, the Saudi Arabian team has reached all agreements with coach Stefano Pioli.

Will Pioli succeed at Al Nassr? – Photo: Getty

Pioli and his agent immediately traveled to Saudi Arabia. Today (September 19), the Italian strategist will go to Riyadh to complete the contract. Thus, Pioli is about to return after 4 months of saying goodbye to AC Milan. The 58-year-old coach left the San Siro team in May this year.

Before accepting the offer from Al Nassr, Pioli had signed a three-year contract with Al Ittihad. However, the deal fell through due to disagreements between the two sides. Pioli is expected to make his Al Nassr debut in the away match against Al Ettifaq in the fourth round of the Saudi League on September 21. However, Pioli’s first match in his new position is likely to come in the next round.

Al Nassr hope that the change of coach will help them reap success after more than a year of failure under Luis Castro. During his time in office, Castro only helped Ronaldo’s team win 1 title in the friendly tournament of the 2023 Arab Club Championship. With experience leading big clubs in Serie A and winning the Scudetto, Pioli received great trust from the Board of Directors and Al Nassr fans.