{"id":52769,"date":"2026-05-25T23:04:34","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/?p=52769"},"modified":"2026-05-25T23:04:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:34:34","slug":"sergio-conceicao-set-to-leave-al-ittihad-by-mutual-agreement-open-to-european-offers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/football\/transfer-news\/sergio-conceicao-set-to-leave-al-ittihad-by-mutual-agreement-open-to-european-offers\/","title":{"rendered":"S\u00e9rgio Concei\u00e7\u00e3o set to leave Al Ittihad by mutual agreement; Open to european offers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"auto\">S\u00e9rgio Concei\u00e7\u00e3o is set to depart from his role as head coach of Saudi Pro League club <strong>Al Ittihad<\/strong> by mutual agreement, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano. The Portuguese manager is currently finalizing contractual details with the club and will soon be open to opportunities from European teams.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"auto\">End of a Short but Eventful Spell in Saudi Arabia<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"auto\">Concei\u00e7\u00e3o joined Al Ittihad in October 2025, replacing Laurent Blanc. The move came after his stint at AC Milan. He brought his trademark high-intensity, pressing style to the Tigers, but results were mixed in a highly competitive Saudi league featuring stars like Karim Benzema.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">Recent reports highlighted growing pressure following heavy defeats, including a 5-1 loss, which reportedly accelerated discussions about his future. Both parties have now opted for a mutual separation, allowing the club to move forward while enabling the coach to seek new challenges.<\/p>\n<h3 dir=\"auto\">Who is S\u00e9rgio Concei\u00e7\u00e3o?<\/h3>\n<p dir=\"auto\">S\u00e9rgio Concei\u00e7\u00e3o, born in 1974, enjoyed a successful playing career as a right winger, representing clubs like FC Porto, Lazio, Parma, and Inter Milan. He earned 56 caps for Portugal and participated in Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"auto\">As a manager, he built his reputation primarily at <strong>FC Porto<\/strong>, where he won multiple Primeira Liga titles, domestic cups, and established a strong tactical identity focused on aggressive pressing and quick transitions. His brief spell at AC Milan in 2024-25 and subsequent move to Al Ittihad demonstrated his willingness to take on new projects abroad.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>S\u00e9rgio Concei\u00e7\u00e3o is set to depart from his role as head coach of Saudi Pro League club Al Ittihad by\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":217,"featured_media":52770,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4660],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52769","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-transfer-news"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/217"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52769"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52771,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52769\/revisions\/52771"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}