Saad Al-Shehri is a football manager and former player who coaches the under-23 Saudi Olympic Football Team.
Al-Shehri coached the national team to victory over Uzbekistan in the semifinal of the U-23 AFC Championship when he deployed Nasser Al-Omran, who scored the goal that helped his side to qualify for the upcoming Olympic Games in Tokyo.
He said that Saudi Arabia deserved to return to its leading position in Asian football, and congratulated the Saudi government, its people, and the Saudi football team for this achievement.
It was Al-Shehri’s second achievement at a continental level, having coached the under-19 Saudi team to the game that qualified it for the Youth Olympics 2017.
He led the Green Falcons to the last eight of the 2018 Asian Games which included a famous win over a strong Chinese team in the second round and then a narrow loss to finalists Japan.
He has made his name as a coach by developing the skills of Saudi Arabia’s national teams for different age groups.
He has also distinguished himself at a local club level after leading Al-Ettifaq to fourth position in the 2017-2018 season. He has also coached other Saudi teams: Al-Qadisiyah, Al-Nassr, Al-Shabab and Al-Nahdha.
Al-Shehri previously worked as a PE teacher, combining his passions for fitness and coaching.
He played for Al-Ettifaq FC in the junior and youth grades, before he got upgraded to the first team, and won the Saudi Schools’ Championship with Al-Sharqiyah Educational team.
Saad Al-Shehri, Saudi football manager
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Saad Al-Shehri, Saudi football manager
- Al-Shehri coached the national team to victory over Uzbekistan in the semifinal of the U-23 AFC Championship
Saudi Arabia’s KAUST named FIFA’s first research institute in MENA
- KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Kingdom’s growing presence in international football
RIYADH: FIFA has designated the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as its first research institute in the Middle East and Asia to support the development of innovative football research, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.
The recognition highlights KAUST’s commitment to integrating sports, academic research and industry through advanced, high-level initiatives grounded in rigorous scientific methodologies, contributing to the advancement of football studies.
KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Saudi Arabia’s growing presence in international football.
The accreditation aligns with national efforts to invest in research and development and promote the knowledge economy, supporting Saudi Vision 2030’s goals of building an advanced sports system based on innovation and sustainability.
The collaboration’s first project focuses on developing advanced AI algorithms to analyze historical FIFA World Cup broadcast footage, transforming decades of match videos into structured, searchable data, according to the KAUST website.
This work opens new opportunities to apply state-of-the-art computer vision techniques and deepen understanding of how football has evolved over time.
The second project uses player and ball tracking data from the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand to compile comprehensive datasets capturing in-game dynamics.
These datasets provide deeper insights into human movement, playing techniques and performance dynamics through AI-driven analysis.
