June 30 – Former Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler has become the latest football star to head to Saudi Arabia, taking up the manager’s role at local club Al-Qadisiyah.
The second-tier club confirmed the former England striker’s appointment on its Twitter channel. ‘Robbie Fowler.. one of the most famous players in Liverpool and the English Premier League.. coach for Qadisiyah’, the club tweeted.
Fowler scored 183 goals for Liverpool to become a Merseyside legend, but his coaching career has been far more modest, failing to impress at Thai club Muangthong United, Australia’s Brisbane Roar and East Bengal in the Indian Super League.
He is the latest marquee name to prop up Saudi football as the Arab Kingdom embarks on a huge spending spree to lift their domestic game and its profile. Recently, Saudi Arabia announced it would nationalize four major clubs. Oil giant Aramco will take over Al-Qadisiyah.
The recruitment drive has seen Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante, Reuben Neves, Kalidou Koulibaly and Edouard Mendy move to the country.
They might be joined by Luis Castro, the manager who has taken Rio club Botafogo to the top of the table in Brazil’s top flight, but following multiple reports, the club issued a statement denying their high-flying coach had accepted a lucrative deal, writing that “Botafogo states that the coach has an active contract until March 2024. The club has not received any notice of departure from the coach or any document from another club.”
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