“I came to build glory with the Union”

Al-Ittihad Club, champion of the Saudi League, announced the appointment of Sergio Conceicao as its new technical director.

Jeddah Club, which won the title last season with two rounds to go, announced the arrival of the former Porto and Milan coach on Wednesday. Conceição (50 years old) signed a contract until 2028.

The Portuguese, who replaces Laurent Blanc, becomes the seventh coach from his home country in the RSL this season.

Speaking via a video clip on the federation’s official media channel, Conceição said: “Victory is not an option, but an identity that defines us.

“Rivals may change and their allies may fall, but the champion remains. The champion is the one who owns the game. I am Sergio Conceicao. I came to build glory with the Union.”

Conceição played 52 international matches with his country’s national team, and spent seven years as Porto’s coach starting in 2017, leading the club to win three Portuguese league titles and eight other cups before moving to Milan in the middle of last season.

He helped lift the team to eighth place in the Italian League and to the final of the Italian Cup.

Conceição takes charge of an Al-Ittihad side that sits third in the 2025-26 Champions League, with three wins from its first four matches. Their only defeat of the season, the last time out at home to Al Nasr, marked the end of Blanc’s 14-month spell.

Arriving in the Kingdom early on Thursday, Conceição will make his first appearance in the Russian Premier League in the opening match of the fifth round, away to Al-Fayhaa on October 17.