Roberto Mancini has left his position as head coach of the Saudi Arabia national team, the country's federation said on Thursday.
Mancini, who won the European Championship as Italy coach in 2021, left by mutual agreement, the federation said.
“The board of directors of the Saudi football federation and the coach of the national team, the Italian Roberto Mancini, reached a joint agreement on Thursday to end the contractual relationship,” the team published on the social network X.
The former Internazionale and Manchester City manager won multiple titles in a storied career as a player and coach.
But he failed to lead Saudi Arabia to victory in the Asian Cup this year, exiting the tournament in the round of 16.
His actions during that match in Qatar also sparked controversy when he retired before the end of the penalty shootout his team lost against South Korea. He later apologized.
Mancini had been hired by Saudi Arabia in August 2023, two weeks after he left his position in charge of Italy.
The Saudis are third in Group C of the third round of the Asian World Cup qualifiers with five points. They are five points behind group leaders Japan after four games.
They lost 2-0 at home to Japan on October 10 before drawing goalless against Bahrain five days later.
The first two in each group automatically advance to the World Cup, while the third and fourth places go to another preliminary round with the last two places eliminated.
As Inter manager, he won three Italian league titles and won the Premier League with Manchester City in 2013 thanks to Sergio Aguero's dramatic late goal on the final day of the season.
Information from The Associated Press and Reuters was used in this article.
