Julius OkorieCristiano Ronaldo and his Al Nassr teammates are awaiting new coach, after the club sent Stefano Pioli packing.
Pioli, who was with the club for about nine months, replacing Luís Castro, was dismissed after a disappointing campaign. His exit marks Al-Nassr’s third managerial change since Ronaldo joined the club in late 2022.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelPioli guided Al-Nassr to a third-place finish in the Saudi top flight last season as they finished 13 points behind champions Al-Ittihad.
“Pioli and his staff are no more the acting coaching staff of the first team,” the club confirmed via a statement.
“We would like to thank Mr Pioli and his staff for their dedicated work during the past season.”
The Italian tactician who led AC Milan to the 2021-2022 Serie A title during his four-and-a-half years in charge at the San Siro,has been linked with a deal with Fiorentina as its new manager.
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Pioli previously managed La Viola between 2017 and 2019, before going on to win the Scudetto with AC Milan in 2022.
Al Nassr have not lifted the domestic league title since 2019, despite significant investment in the squad and the presence of global superstar Ronaldo.
Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr in 2023 and his contract runs out at the end of June.
There has been speculation the 40-year-old could leave the club but sources say Al-Nassr are confident of extending his deal.
“Thanks for everything,” Ronaldo wrote in a message on social media following the news of Pioli’s exit.
Under Pioli’s leadership, Cristiano scored 31 goals in 36 matches, delivering one of his most prolific seasons in recent years—though ultimately falling short of any silverware, which incidentally was what led to Pioli’s exit.
There are no signs that Al-Nassr who are eager to begin rebuilding process have penciled down anybody as Pioli’s replacement.
There are however speculations that Portuguese coach Sérgio Paulo Marceneiro da Conceição who coached Porto, Nantes and AC Milan in the past and Italian coach Luciano Spalletti who was sacked as Manager of Italian national team could have a look in.
Spalletti also handled Inter Milan and Napoli respectively in the past. Others being mentioned in the media include Belgian Marc Brys, currently in charge of Cameroon and former Hilal coach jorge Jesus.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
