Brendan Rodgers Appointed Head Coach of Al-Qadsiah with Ambitions to Elevate Saudi Pro League
Brendan Rodgers has been named head coach of Saudi Arabia's Al-Qadsiah football club, with the mandate to transform the Saudi Pro League's established Big Four into a Big Five. The Khobar-based club, supported by Aramco, operates in a high-spending environment highlighted by the July signing of Mateo Retegui for approximately €65 million.
Currently, Al-Qadsiah sits fifth in the league, 10 points behind leaders Al-Nassr, and has been eliminated from the King’s Cup. The league is set to resume after the FIFA Arab Cup, with limited preparation time expected for the team. Al-Qadsiah is anticipating the completion of the new Aramco Stadium next year, which will have a 46,000 capacity and replace the previous venue where last season's average attendance was around 9,000.
Rodgers, aged 52 and a former Liverpool manager, joins Al-Qadsiah following his stint at Celtic. He is expected to lead the club toward winning trophies and achieving the high-performance standards demanded under the club's ambitious vision. The club's CEO, James Bisgrove, described Rodgers' appointment as a landmark moment and expressed the club's aim to become one of Asia’s leading football clubs.
Despite Liverpool alumni like Robbie Fowler, Steven Gerrard, and Jordan Henderson encountering mixed results and facing intense scrutiny in the Saudi Pro League — with Fowler notably failing to secure promotion at Al-Qadsiah — Rodgers' arrival is seen as a fresh opportunity. Current key players contributing to Al-Qadsiah's form include Julián Quiñones with six goals, Mateo Retegui with five, alongside influential performances from Nacho and Koen Casteels.
