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Arlington: Ange Postecoglou will return to Asian football for his next challenge, signing a two-year contract with Al Nasr, Saudi Arabia’s top club captained by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Postecoglou has been out of work since being sacked as Nottingham Forest coach in October following a disastrous 39-day, eight-game spell at the Premier League club, the longest period of inactivity in his coaching career since he was sacked as Australia youth team coach.
Ange Postecoglou.Getty Images
Postecoglou remains committed to winning trophies at the highest level, so leaving Europe came as a big surprise. However, the Al Nasr coaching job is one of the biggest in sport thanks to the club’s enormous spending power and the presence of Ronaldo, the 41-year-old Portuguese superstar who has been with the Riyadh team since the end of the last World Cup in 2022.
“A new chapter. Mr. Ange Postecoglou has been appointed head coach of the Al-Nasr first team. The contract is valid for two seasons,” the club said in a statement.
“We wish him and his staff every success in their journey.”
Postecoglou’s quote, used in the social media post announcing his appointment, is famous: “At all my previous clubs it ends the same. With me and the trophy.”
Al Nasr, the biggest club in one of football’s emerging epicenters and majority owned by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, was crowned Saudi Pro League champions last season.
Postecoglou, 60, will replace Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus on the bench, leading a team that also includes Joao Felix, Sadio Mane, Kingsley Coman and numerous Saudi internationals.
During the World Cup he worked as a pundit for British broadcaster ITV, and after leaving Forest he worked as a technical adviser to UEFA.
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Postecoglou previously managed Tottenham Hotspur, who he helped to Europa League glory in 2025, but was sacked two weeks later as they finished 17th in the Premier League.
He had been linked with jobs in Scotland after Steve Clarke resigned following their World Cup exit, as well as Kazakhstan – where Scott Mann, the Australian who served as Tottenham’s chief football officer during his time in north London, is now the national federation’s general secretary – but media reports suggested his wage demands were too high for the Central Asian team.
How Postecoglou’s signature attacking style, known as “Angeball”, can work in the unforgiving heat of Saudi Arabia remains to be seen.
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