Al-Ittifaq have hit pause on Saad Al-Shehri’s future, choosing to wait until the end of the season before committing to a new deal for their head coach, even as his name circles around the Saudi national team job.
Reports in recent days suggested the Saudi Arabian Football Federation had opened lines of communication with Al-Shehri about taking charge of the senior national side, with a view to the 2026 World Cup and a succession to Frenchman Hervé Renard. His camp pushed back. Agent Rafi Al-Shahrani publicly denied that any formal talks had taken place.
Inside Al-Ittifaq, though, the speculation has clearly registered.
According to Saudi daily Al-Riyadiah, the club’s hierarchy have decided to delay any contract renewal until they can fully evaluate Al-Shehri’s body of work over the course of the campaign. Performance now, paperwork later.
The numbers on the table are clear. Since taking over in January 2025 from English coach Steven Gerrard, Al-Shehri has overseen 44 matches, winning 20 of them. He has lost 14, with 10 ending in draws. A mixed ledger, but one that shows a side capable of competing when it clicks.
Despite the wait-and-see stance, the intention within the Eastern Province club is to keep him. Al-Riyadiah reports that the internal mood leans towards retaining Al-Shehri as head coach for next season, provided the current run-in backs that instinct.
Al-Shehri is acting as if he will be there.
He has already begun planning for the coming campaign, holding meetings with the club’s technical committee to map out squad needs, identify players to renew, and flag those likely to depart. These are not the moves of a coach with one foot out of the door; they are the actions of a man preparing a project’s next phase.
Yet everything hangs on one question: the national team.
Al-Shahrani has made no secret of his client’s stance. If an official offer arrives from the federation to lead Saudi Arabia, Al-Shehri would not hesitate to accept. That single decision could redraw the futures of both club and country in an instant.
On the pitch, the picture is tight. Al-Ittifaq sit seventh in the Saudi Pro League on 39 points, three behind Al-Ittihad in sixth. It is a position that leaves room for both frustration and ambition: close enough to climb, vulnerable enough to slip.
For now, Al-Ittifaq wait, Al-Shehri works, and the federation watches. The next few weeks will decide whether he stays to finish what he has started in the league, or swaps the touchline of a club in the East for the pressure and spotlight of a nation heading toward 2026.
