JEDDAH: The Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) is expected to officially announce the appointment of former Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard of the Netherlands to train the Saudi national team. Unconfirmed reports say that SAFF has recently reached a final agreement with the 48-year-old coach to manage the Saudi team for three years. However, Saudi Gazette's efforts to reach Mohammed Al-Shihri, the recently appointed director of media planning and public relations department at SAFF, did not get the response. Among the top Asian teams, Saudi Arabia has been without a coach since it crashed out of the Asian Cup in January. It signed a deal with Brazilian Ricardo Gomes but canceled it after he violated the terms of the contract, particularly that which is related to his arrival to the Kingdom. As a temporary solution, SAFF tasked Gomes's compatriot Ruggiero Morris Lorenzo, who was coaching the Saudi youth team, to manage the Saudi national team until it finds a suitable manager. Rijkaard, whose last coaching assignment was at the Turkish club Galatasaray, is expected to a sign the contract in a European capital Thursday. Rijkaard was fired by Barcelona in 2008 after five years with the club, despite leading the team to two Spanish titles and a 2006 Champions League triumph. He began his coaching career when he was appointed manager of the Netherlands national football team in 1998. During the 2001–02 season, he became manager of Sparta Rotterdam in the Dutch Eredivisie, the oldest professional team in the country. Under Rijkaard's leadership, the club was relegated to the first division for the first time in its history, and he was consequently fired. After leaving Sparta Rotterdam, he was appointed manager of Barcelona for the 2003–04 season. He became the first Barcelona coach to have won twice at Real Madrid's stadium Santiago Bernabeu and Rijkaard was among the five nominated coaches for UEFA's Team of the Year 2005. On 8 March 2006 he was also honored by UEFA for his contributions to the European Cup Competition throughout his career as player and manager. Rijkaard also achieved success on the European stage winning the 2005–06 Champions League, with a 2-1 win against Arsenal in the final. On 8 May 2008, the day after Barcelona's dismal 4-1 defeat to archrival Real Madrid, Rijkaard was succeeded by Josep Guardiola. On 5 June 2009, Rijkaard signed a two-year contract to manage the Turkish giants Galatasaray, following the resignation of Bulent Korkmaz two days earlier.
