LONDON: It’s not just Newcastle United fans who will be scrutinizing Matthias Jaissle in the coming days and weeks. Fans around the world, and especially Saudi Arabia, will be curious to see if he can translate his success in Asia to the unforgiving English Premier League.
At just 38, the German leaves Al-Ahli after leading the team to their first AFC Champions League Elite title in 2025 and then repeating the feat in May, making the Greens the first team to successfully defend the continental crown since Jeddah rivals Al-Ittihad (who may well be glad to see the back of the tactician) in 2005.
Despite that, and his two Austrian titles with RB Salzburg, the former center back — whose playing career was cut short due to injury — will have plenty to prove. Young coaches rarely, if ever, arrive in England’s top tier from leagues outside Europe. It is a testament to the job that Jaissle has done in Jeddah that he is now considered a pioneer.
It is not just about those back-to-back Asian titles but the fact he arrived in a new country at the tender age of 35 to take over a team that may be one of the big boys in Saudi Arabia, but that had also just been promoted from the second tier. To finish third, fifth and third while increasing the points tally season-by-season was impressive. Al-Ahli finished 31 points behind the champions in 2023-24, 16 in the next campaign and then just five points in May. He had turned the Greens into challengers at home and champions away.
Now he travels north again, from one port city to another. This time he will be by the North Sea, where the wind that blows may be colder than that from the Red Sea but the local passion is just as hot. Like Al-Ahli three years ago, Newcastle are desperate for consistent success. Coaches have come and gone over the years in an attempt to take the Magpies back to the top and Eddie Howe brought their first trophy in 56 years with a 2-1 win over Liverpool in the 2025 League Cup final. But a disappointing campaign last season proved not to be enough, and Howe left the club on Thursday.
It will not be easy for Jaissle. Newcastle fans have already seen stars Sandro Tonali and Anthony Gordon leave for Tottenham Hotspur and Barcelona respectively. It also looks as if captain Bruno Guimaraes is off to Arsenal. It leaves much to do for the new man. But there is also an opportunity, the sense of a new beginning.
When he arrived at Al-Ahli in 2023, the situation was different. Big stars such as Riyad Mahrez, Roberto Firmino and Edouard Mendy were arriving in Jeddah. It would have been easy to have been overawed but Jaissle was adept, first at building an inclusive team spirit in which international stars were treated the same as the locals. After that came the identity, the desire to get forward quickly and put the opposition under pressure, to win the ball high up the pitch to give the likes of Mahrez the freedom to wreak havoc.
It will take more time at Newcastle. This is a team which finished 12th in the Premier League last season, which has lost two of its best players and is about to lose a third. Fans are restless and every game will be a test against some of the best clubs in the world. There are only three weeks until the new season begins — with a home game against Liverpool — so there is not much time to prepare.
In Jaissle’s favor, he is a prodigious worker, a coach who lives and breathes the club he is with. Expect to see him attending other games, scouting future opponents and possible transfer targets. He communicates well, tries to take the fans along on the journey and will give his all.
The English Premier League is where Jaissle wants to be. If he can lead Newcastle United to success, he will not only be a hero in the city but will also show the Saudi Pro League is a place where coaches, young and old, can develop. Others may then follow.
It is hard to imagine that he will repeat the successive Champions League successes but it is certainly possible the German can do what he did at Al-Ahli and leave the Toon in a far better condition than when he arrived.
