Former Croatian football representative and coach Slaven Bilić is the new coach of Al Fateh, the Saudi Premier League announced on Saturday afternoon. He signed for two years.
“Welcome to the oasis of palm trees. Let’s create history together,” they wrote on social networks in Slaven’s new club.
Slaven has been out of a job since March, after parting ways with English second division side Watford. Previously, he was in the combinations for the coach of the Ukrainian and Bosnia and Herzegovina national teams, as well as the coach of the Turkish first league Adan Demirspor.
After Marcel Brozović (30) in Al Nassr, Bilić is the second Croatian in the Saudi championship for the next season. After Osijek, from 2021 to 2022, the former “Fiery” played for Al Fateh. Ivan Santini (34). Bilić was already in the Saudi league as coach of Al Ittihad from 2018 to 2019.
Slaven will begin preparations with his new club in Linz, Austria, on Monday, where he will stay until the start of the championship on August 11. So far, he has planned two preparatory matches against the Hungarian clubs Puskas Akademije and Ujpest.
Al Fateh was sixth in the championship last season, ten years ago they won the only title in history, as well as the super cup. His biggest stars are the Saudi striker Celebrate Al Buraikan (23) and former Barcelona winger Christian Tello (31).
The club is from the city of Hofuf in the east of the country, near Bahrain and Qatar, and the stadium has a capacity of 20,000 seats. Assistants should keep me company in the new club Dean Calculus, Danilo Butorovic i Vatroslav Mihačić.