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New coach of the Saudi Arabian team for a little over a week, Hervé Renard explained the reasons for his non-come to the Senegal Lions.
Vacant since October 2, and the sudden non-renewal of the emblematic former coach, Aliou Cissé, the position of Senegal coach could have found a taker in the person of Hervé Renard. In addition to being free after his departure from the French women’s team, the Savoyard had the advantage of knowing the environment very well having taken up residence in the country for a long time, and of having the widow as his wife. Senegalese by the late Bruno Metsu, Viviane Dièye.
But while he admitted to having proposed his candidacy at the microphone of “Monde Afrique”, the double African champion, in 2012 with Zambia and in 2015 with Ivory Coast, withdrew from the race to in end head towards the Gulf, returning to the bench of Saudi Arabia. The reason? The impossibility of incorporating into his staff Omar Daf, the former assistant of Aliou Cissé between 2016 and 2017, who has been officiating since last year in Amiens, in Ligue 2.
“There were discussions. I had one wish, to have Omar Daf, a former Senegalese international, as my assistant. But Omar is the coach of Amiens, in Ligue 2. And this condition was not immediately possible to fulfill. So I decided at this precise moment to withdraw my application,” confided the 56-year-old technician who also expressed regret.
“For the moment, Senegal has not yet chosen (Pape Thiaw, the former deputy of Aliou Cissé, takes over as interim). Coaching Senegal, one of the best African teams, would have been a great challenge, it’s true, but all the conditions were not met,” he added.
“The objective is clear: we must qualify for the World Cup”
Precisely, to talk about his return to the bench of the Saudis, who got off to a bad start in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers under Roberto Mancini, Hervé Renard is aware that he is facing a rescue operation. After four days, Saudi Arabia only has 5 points. An anomaly that the French technician corrects. “The objective is clear: we must qualify for the World Cup. If I did not believe in this qualification with Saudi Arabia, I would not have come back to coach the National Team,” said Renard.
