The Saudi Arabian Football Federation say Herve Renard’s contract extension will provide the national team greater stability as they seek to build on their qualification for this year's World Cup.
On Friday, the Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) announced that Renard, 53, had signed an extension to his current deal through until 2027.
The Frenchman, who took charge of the national team in 2019, has guided the country to qualification for the Qatar World Cup – Saudi’s second successive global finals and sixth in all.
In a statement, SAFF president Yasser Al Misehal said: “Our objective for the national team is to provide continuity for the positive results we witnessed in the past three years. In Herve Renard, we believe we have the right man at the helm to lead the national team over the next five years.
“He has demonstrated great qualities as a tactician in building a clear identity and style of play for the team while achieving great results. This renewal will provide technical stability and help create an environment of trust around the team to be ready for the challenges to come.
“We are in the process of building a very ambitious project for Saudi football as a whole and we look to the national team to deliver the results that will reflect this progress.”
In the past three years, the national team has climbed from 70th in the Fifa world rankings to No 49, while they topped Group B in the final round of qualifying for Qatar 2022, ahead of Japan and Australia.
In 10 matches in the final round, Saudi lost only once – the 2-0 defeat to Japan on Match Day 8 – winning seven times.
On his new contract, Renard said: “From the moment I arrived here I felt like I belong, I felt the passion for football, people's desire for success and growth and the country's aspiration to progress and develop.
“I saw a country full of young talented players. We achieved our first target, let's work together for the rest. I’m here to stay.”
Saudi have been drawn in Group C for the World Cup later this year, alongside Argentina, Mexico and Poland. On Thursday, they announced they will face 2018 runners-up Croatia in a friendly in Riyadh on November 16, five days before the tournament kicks off in Qatar.
At Russia 2018, Saudi exited the group stage, although they rounded off their campaign with a 2-1 victory against Egypt – the country’s first win at a World Cup in 24 years.
It's up to you to go green
Nils El Accad, chief executive and owner of Organic Foods and Café, says going green is about “lifestyle and attitude” rather than a “money change”; people need to plan ahead to fill water bottles in advance and take their own bags to the supermarket, he says.
“People always want someone else to do the work; it doesn’t work like that,” he adds. “The first step: you have to consciously make that decision and change.”
When he gets a takeaway, says Mr El Accad, he takes his own glass jars instead of accepting disposable aluminium containers, paper napkins and plastic tubs, cutlery and bags from restaurants.
He also plants his own crops and herbs at home and at the Sheikh Zayed store, from basil and rosemary to beans, squashes and papayas. “If you’re going to water anything, better it be tomatoes and cucumbers, something edible, than grass,” he says.
“All this throwaway plastic - cups, bottles, forks - has to go first,” says Mr El Accad, who has banned all disposable straws, whether plastic or even paper, from the café chain.
One of the latest changes he has implemented at his stores is to offer refills of liquid laundry detergent, to save plastic. The two brands Organic Foods stocks, Organic Larder and Sonnett, are both “triple-certified - you could eat the product”.
The Organic Larder detergent will soon be delivered in 200-litre metal oil drums before being decanted into 20-litre containers in-store.
Customers can refill their bottles at least 30 times before they start to degrade, he says. Organic Larder costs Dh35.75 for one litre and Dh62 for 2.75 litres and refills will cost 15 to 20 per cent less, Mr El Accad says.
But while there are savings to be had, going green tends to come with upfront costs and extra work and planning. Are we ready to refill bottles rather than throw them away? “You have to change,” says Mr El Accad. “I can only make it available.”
Brief scores:
Toss: Sindhis, elected to field first
Kerala Knights 103-7 (10 ov)
Parnell 59 not out; Tambe 5-15
Sindhis 104-1 (7.4 ov)
Watson 50 not out, Devcich 49
The five pillars of Islam
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESmartCrowd%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E2018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiddiq%20Farid%20and%20Musfique%20Ahmed%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EDubai%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFinTech%20%2F%20PropTech%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInitial%20investment%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E%24650%2C000%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ECurrent%20number%20of%20staff%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%2035%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESeries%20A%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EVarious%20institutional%20investors%20and%20notable%20angel%20investors%20(500%20MENA%2C%20Shurooq%2C%20Mada%2C%20Seedstar%2C%20Tricap)%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Canada
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Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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