SAUDI PRO LEAGUE
Stefano Pioli named new Al Nassr coach: how many coaches has Cristiano Ronaldo worked under?
The Italian was announced as the new manager of Al Nassr after the recent dismissal of Luis Castro. He is the club’s fourth coach in recent times.
Stefano Pioli has been appointed coach of Al Nassr, one of the four big teams in the Saudi Pro League. The Italian returns to coaching little over three months after his last job at AC Milan back in May. He guided Milan to the Serie A title in 2022 and enjoyed five good seasons but was released at the end of the season after the team’s disappointing Champions League exit.
The 58-year-old replaces Luis Castro at Al Nassr, and will be in charge of a team that the club feels, is not showing its full potential. There, he will manage, among others, Cristiano Ronaldo.
The coaches in Cristiano's club career
- László Bölöni (Sporting Clube de Portugal: 2002–03)
- Sir Alex Ferguson (Manchester United: 2003–09)
- Manuel Pellegrini (Real Madrid: 2009–10)
- José Mourinho (Real Madrid: 2010–13)
- Carlo Ancelotti (Real Madrid: 2013–15)
- Rafael Benítez (Real Madrid: 2015–16)
- Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid: 2016–18)
- Massimiliano Allegri (Juventus: 2018–19 and 2021)
- Maurizio Sarri (Juventus: 2019)
- Andrea Pirlo (Juventus: 2020)
- Ole Gunnar Solskjær (Manchester United: 2021)
- Michael Carrick (Manchester United: 2021)
- Ralf Rangnick (Manchester United: 2021-22)
- Erik ten Hag (Manchester United: 2022)
- Rudi Garcia (Al Nassr: 2023)
- Dinko Jelicic (Al Nassr: 2023)
- Luis Castro (Al Nassr: 2023-24)
- Stefano Pioli (Al Nassr: 2024-)
Coaching merry-go-round at Al Nassr
Since Al Nassr caught the attention of the football world a year and a half ago by signing the Portuguese number 7, they have not been able to win a major title (only the Arab Champions League). In fact, last season they finished seventh in the league and lost in the quarter finals of the Asian Champions League.
After three league games, Al Nassr are seventh, having won one game and drawn the other two. Hence the decision of Fernando Hierro, the club’s sporting director, to dismiss Luis Castro and bet on Pioli.
This is Al Nassr’s fourth coach since they started investing heavily in the European market, more than a year ago. After Rudi Garcia, Dinko Jelicic and Luis Castro have come on board. Now, the Italian will have at his disposal a squad that, in addition to Cristiano, includes names such as Brzovic, Laporte, Mané and the new arrivals Angelo Gabriel, Wesley and Simakan.
As for Cristiano, Pioli will be the 18th coach he has played under at club level. The first was László Bölöni when the teenage Cristiano was still starting out at Sporting Clube de Portugal.
Sir Alex Ferguson is the manager to have spent the most time coaching Cristiano - they were together for five seasons (2003–09) at Manchester United before the Portuguese forward’s record-breaking move to Real Madrid, where he had five coaches - not including Julen Lopetegui, who was at the helm for a month before Cristiano was sold to Juventus in the summer of 2018. Cristiano never played a game, either official or unofficial during that time, which is why Lopetegui is not included in the list.