Lluís Cortés was presented this Monday as the new Saudi Arabia coach. The former FC Barcelona coach and Ukraine coach has signed until 2027. “The Saudi Arabian women's team is a new team, but it has a great passion for this game and that is what has motivated me to accept this opportunity,” Balaguer explained in his presentation.
The Catalan coach had been without a team since last August he announced his resignation as Ukraine coach. The war exploded shortly after taking the reins of the team, in fact, it surprised him while he was in Kyiv and when he managed to leave the country he helped several of his players look for a team outside of Ukraine. The war has made his work at the head of the team very complicated, until he decided to resign from the position last summer. He was about to sign for the Moroccan national team, in fact, the agreement was almost total, but the imposition of Jorge Vilda as sports director in this Federation blocked the agreement. Cortés was clear that he did not want to work alongside Vilda and ended up rejecting the position. He was also in several selection processes at both club and national team level, and finally opted for the Saudi Arabia project.
Highly questioned by the restriction of rights especially for women, the Arab country has recently opened its stadiums to the female public. Until a few years ago they could not even attend a match as spectators, but today it has a league and several teams, among which are Al-Riyadh, directed by the Catalan Ana Junyent. The former coach of Eibar in League F is the only Spaniard in the league and it was her same arguments that motivated her to accept her proposal: to be part of the change.
In its announcement, the Saudi Football Federation refers to “the efforts to develop women's football” as the main reason for choosing a proven coach like Lluís Cortés, coach of FC Barcelona's first Champions League, for the position.
The president of the Saudi Federation, Yasser bin Hassan Al-Mishal, describes Cortés as “a coach with great experience in women's football” and highlights that having him is “a successful investment for the future of women's football in the kingdom thanks to the numerous achievements of his career.”
