A Saudi journalist has dropped a bombshell, claiming that Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, manager of Al-Nassr, was the one who devised the Saudi national team’s game plan for their match against Iraq in the Asian play-offs for the 2026 World Cup.
The Saudi national team qualified for the 2026 World Cup following a goalless draw with Iraq last October in their second match of the Asian play-offs, having pipped them on goal difference after both teams had beaten Indonesia.
Falah Al-Qahtani, a journalist with the Saudi newspaper Okaz, said in comments on the “Hajma” podcast: “I will reveal a piece of information that has not been disclosed before, which is that it was Jesus who devised the national team’s plan for the match against Iraq, from which we qualified.”
He added: “Jesus came to the Saudi national team’s training camp on match day, sat with the players, drew up the plan, and then left.”
This comes at a time when the Portuguese coach’s name is being linked with taking charge of the Saudi national team at the 2026 World Cup, succeeding Frenchman Hervé Renard, amid a recent decline in the “Green Falcons’” results and performance.
Jesus is competing with several other names that have been put forward recently, such as Italian Simone Inzaghi, coach of Al-Hilal; Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers, manager of Al-Qadisiyah; and Walid Regragui, former manager of the Moroccan national team.