Hervé Jean-Marie Roger Renard (born 30 September 1968) is a French professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

coach and former player who is the manager of the Saudi Arabia national team. Renard has previously been the manager of Zambia national team, with whom he won the

2012 Africa Cup of Nations The 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa organized by the Confederation of African Football ( ...

; he also won the competition in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

with the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

, becoming the first coach to win two Africa Cup of Nations with different teams. In addition, he coached

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

at the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

. In 2019, he was appointed as manager of

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

Early life

Renard was born on 30 September 1968 in

Aix-les-Bains Aix-les-Bains (, ; frp, Èx-los-Bens; la, Aquae Gratianae), locally simply Aix, is a commune in the southeastern French department of Savoie.

, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes.

Playing career

Born in

Aix-les-Bains Aix-les-Bains (, ; frp, Èx-los-Bens; la, Aquae Gratianae), locally simply Aix, is a commune in the southeastern French department of Savoie.

, Renard played as a defender for French sides

AS Cannes Association Sportive de Cannes Football (; commonly referred to as AS Cannes or simply Cannes) is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed 1902 as a sports club and currently plays in the Championnat National 3, ...

Stade de Vallauris Stade (), officially the Hanseatic City of Stade (german: Hansestadt Stade, nds, Hansestadt Stood) is a city in Lower Saxony in northern Germany. First mentioned in records in 934, it is the seat of the Stade (district), district () which bears ...

and SC Draguignan in a playing career which lasted from 1983 to 1998. After retiring as a professional player he worked as a cleaner, working there in the morning and training with Draguignan in the evening, eventually starting his own cleaning company.

Coaching career

Early years

Renard began his coaching career with SC Draguignan in 1999, leaving in 2001. He was Assistant at Chinese side

Shanghai Cosco Beijing Chengfeng Football Club () was a professional Chinese football club that last participated in the Chinese League One under licence from the Chinese Football Association (CFA). The team was based in Fengtai District, Beijing and their h ...

with head coach

Claude Le Roy Claude Le Roy (born 6 February 1948) is a French football manager and former player, who gained prominence at international level as coach to the Senegal and Ghana national teams. He was most recently the manager of the Togo national team. Ma ...

from 2002 to 2003, and managed English side

Cambridge United Cambridge United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Cambridge, England. They compete in EFL League one , the 3rd tier of the English football league system. The club is based at the Abbey Stadium on N ...

in 2004, having first joined the club with Le Roy to serve as a coach. He became manager of Vietnamese club Song Da Nam Dinh in 2004, leaving them after several months. He became manager of

AS Cherbourg AS Cherbourg or the Association Sportive de Cherbourg Football is a French football team currently playing in the Championnat National 3, the fifth tier of French football. They are based in the city of Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, Manche in Normandy ...

in 2005, leaving them in 2007. He next became Assistant to

for the Ghana national side. In May 2008, he was appointed manager of the Zambia national team. At the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, he led Zambia to the quarter final stage of the tournament for the first time in 14 years. Renard left his duties as Zambia manager in April 2010 with only two months remaining on his contract. Two days later he agreed to become manager of

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

. He resigned from his position as Angola manager in October 2010, and was replaced by

Zeca Amaral José Jorge Fernandes do Amaral, best known as Zeca Amaral is a former manager of the Angolan national team, a job he took up in October 2010 following the resignation of Hervé Renard Hervé Jean-Marie Roger Renard (born 30 September 1968) ...

USM Alger

On 21 January 2011, Renard reached an agreement with Algerian club

USM Alger Union Sportive de la Médina d'Alger ( ar, الإتحاد الرياضي لمدينة الجزائر); known as USM Alger or simply USMA for short, is a football club based in the inner suburbs of Algiers. The club was founded in 1937 and its co ...

to become the head coach of the club.

Second spell with Zambia

On 22 October 2011, it was announced that Renard had returned for a second stint as coach of Zambia on a one-year contract. He led the team to their first victory in the African Cup Of Nations in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. The win was dedicated to the 18 players who perished in April 1993, after a plane carrying the squad crashed just miles from the site of the 2012 final in Gabon. In May 2012,

Chishimba Kambwili Chishimba Kambwili (born 3 June 1969) is a former member of the National Assembly of Zambia for Roan Constituency (2006 - 2019) in Luanshya District. He has also held several posts in the cabinet. He is the former leader of the National Democrat ...

, the Zambian sports minister, announced he expected Renard to sign a new contract by the end of the month. After Zambia were eliminated from the group stages of the 2013 African Cup of Nations, Renard said that it was his fault. He later criticised CAF for not allowing Zambia, as the 2012 winners of the AFCON, the chance to compete at the 2013 Confederations Cup. Renard was released from his contract by the Football Association of Zambia in October 2013, in preparation for a role with French club

FC Sochaux FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakis ...

Sochaux

On 7 October 2013 it was announced that Renard was appointed as the new manager of French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

side

Sochaux Sochaux () is a commune in the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. Geography Sochaux lies east of Montbéliard, and southeast of Paris. Population Inhabitants are known as ''Sochaliens''. Economy Soc ...

. In April 2014 he was linked with the Morocco national team job. The club was involved in a relegation fight in May 2014, and after being relegated, he left the club later that month. In July 2014 he was announced to be on the shortlist for the Ivory Coast job.

Ivory Coast

Renard was appointed as manager of the Ivory Coast national team in July 2014. He was manager at the

2015 Africa Cup of Nations The 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, known as the Orange Africa Cup of Nations, Equatorial Guinea 2015 for sponsorship reasons, was the 30th staging of the Africa Cup of Nations, the international men's football championship of Africa. It was orga ...

, and praised the organization of the tournament. He won the competition, becoming the first coach to win two Africa Cup of Nations with different countries.

Lille

Renard became manager of French club

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

in May 2015. On 11 November 2015, he was sacked after getting only 13 points in 13 league games.

Morocco

In February 2016, Renard was linked with the vacant Morocco national team job. Later that month he was appointed as the new Morocco manager. In October 2016 he was linked with the vacant Algeria national team job. In November 2017, he qualified Morocco to the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

in Russia, their first since 1998. Later that month, he signed a new contract, until 2022. In July 2019 the Moroccan team was eliminated from the

2019 Africa Cup of Nations The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (abbreviated as AFCON 2019 or CAN 2019), known as the Total 2019 Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial international men's football champion ...

, with Renard taking responsibility for the "shock exit". He resigned a few days later, on 15 July 2019.

Saudi Arabia

Later in July 2019 he became manager of

, the first Frenchman to do so. On 10 September 2019, he managed his first official match against

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

in the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualificationAlso the "FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Qualifiers". was the qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Parallel tour ...

. In March 2022, Renard led Saudi Arabia to qualification for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

, and in the process became the foreign-born manager with the most wins (18) in the nation's history. In their opening game of the World Cup, he led Saudi Arabia to a 2–1 win over

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, one of the pre-tournament favourites, in what was considered one of the biggest shock results in World Cup history. However, Saudi Arabia lost the other two matches against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, to be eliminated from the group stage.

Personal life

Renard is in a relationship with Viviane Dièye, the widow of coach

Bruno Metsu Bruno Jean Cornil Metsu (28 January 1954 – 15 October 2013) was a French footballer and football manager. During his senior playing career from 1973 to 1987, he played for seven different clubs in his native France. From 1988 until his death, ...

. His maternal grandparents were from

Honours

As a manager

Zambia *

COSAFA Cup The COSAFA Cup or COSAFA Senior Challenge Cup is an annual tournament for teams from Southern Africa organized by Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (COSAFA), inaugurated after the ban against the Republic of South Africa had been ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations referred to as AFCON (french: Coupe d'Afrique des Nations, sometimes referred to as CAN, or TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons), and sometimes as African Cup of Nations, is the main internati ...

Ivory Coast *

Individual * CAF Coach of the Year: 2012, 2015, 2018

References