Hervé Renard quits Saudi Arabia to lead France at Women’s World Cup

Hervé Renard has resigned as Saudi Arabia’s coach so he can take over the France women’s team before this year’s Women’s World Cup. The 54-year-old Frenchman was appointed by Saudi Arabia in July 2019 and led the country to a famous 2-1 win over Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar last year.

The Saudi Arabian Football Federation said it had agreed to terminate Renard’s contract at his request and wished him “every success in his future career”. Its president, Yasser al-Misehal, told Saudi Sports Channel: “[Renard] has an offer from the French federation and expressed his desire to take this opportunity. We were informed four days before the current international window and I received a letter from the French federation, and consulted with a number of members of the board of directors, and we decided to accept this request.”

The French Football Federation sacked Corinne Diacre this month after the captain Wendie Renard, Kadidiatou Diani and Marie-Antoinette Katoto said they would not play at the World Cup under “the current system”. France, ranked fifth in the world, will be looking to win a first World Cup at this year’s showpiece, which is being co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia from 20 July to 20 August.

Renard said after a 2-1 friendly loss to Bolivia in Jeddah on Tuesday that he taken Saudi Arabia as far as he could. “I think I did the maximum with the team,” he said. “I can’t reach another level so I prefer to be honest with everybody. Thank you again, it was fantastic time.”

Misehal said a new coach would be not be appointed until June at the earliest.