Yaya Toure Named Saudi Arabia’s Assistant Coach

Retired Ivory Coast international, Yaya Toure has been named the assistant coach of the Saudi Arabia national team earlier today, November 3, 2023.

Yaya Toure will work under Roberto Mancini who coached him at Manchester City between 2010 and 2013.

Recall that Toure spent eight years as a player for City after joining the Premier League club in 2010 from FC Barcelona.

After his relationship with coach Pep Guardiola broke down, the 40-year-old Ivorian legendary midfielder decided to leave City in 2018 for Olympiacos. From there, he joined the Chinese Super League club, Qingdao FC in 2019 and retired in the same year.

Immediately after he retired from football, the four-time African player of the year started his coaching career in 2019.

Toure, who won three Premier League titles while at Manchester City, has been going through a series of coaching courses in preparation for his big coaching gig.

After serving as an academy coach at Tottenham Hotspur, and an assistant coach at Olimpik Donetsk, Akhmat Grozny, and Standard Liège, his assistant coaching job in Saudi Arabia is arguably his biggest gig in the business.

He would learn more on the job from former Italy national team coach Mancini who has presided over four games for Saudi Arabia since being named the nation’s head coach in August 2023.

Before he retired from international football in 2015, Yaya Toure made 101 appearances for Ivory Coast and helped them to win the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. While for all the eight clubs he has played for, he won a total of eighteen trophies.