Steven Gerrard Enlivens Saudi Arabian League, Releases Open To Work Status By Joining Al Ettikaq

Steven Gerrard. (Photo: Twitter/@AVFCOfficial

JAKARTA - Steven Gerrard is no longer unemployed. The British man officially coached the club from Saudi Arabia, Al Ettifaq.

He signed a contract for two years until 2025. Based on the news circulating, the signing of the contract was held at a hotel in London, England.

Gerrard filled the Al Ethtikaq chair after being left by Patrice Cartteon who was sacked in February, and until the end of the 2022/2023 season the head coach position was replaced by Antonio Cazorla as caretaker.

"We are pleased to announce the signing of Gerrard as coach of the Al Ettikaq Club," the club announced via its official website, Tuesday, July 4.

Al Ettikaq president, Khaled Al-Dabal, expressed his happiness in bringing in the young coach who is also a Liverpool FC legend. Khaled Al-Dabal assessed that the arrival of the 43-year-old coach would improve the quality of the Saudi Arabian League after previously the arrival of world top players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, N'Golo Kante, Karim Benzema, to Kalidou Koulibaly.

"Without a doubt, Gerrard's presence will be an addition and a quantum leap into our league, as he is the first England coach to work in the Saudi Arabian League," Khaled Al-Dababal said.

Al Ettikaq finished seventh in the 2022/2023 season with 37 points, 35 points difference from the champion Al Ittihad. These points were collected from 10 wins, seven draws, and 13 defeats.

During his professional coaching career, Gerrard has coached two clubs, Rangers and Aston Villa.

The man who was born on May 30, 1980, was successful with Rangers by bringing the club champion in 2020/2021 without losing. At that time Rangers collected 102 points, the result of 32 wins and six draws.

Overall with the club nicknamed Si Gers, Gerrard has won 124 wins, 41 draws, and 27 defeats in all competitions since training in June 2018.

His good performance in Rangers' final season saw Aston Villa sign him in November 2021. However, his success in training Rangers did not repeat itself because he only brought The Villa to finish in 14th place in the 2021/2022 Premier League and was sacked in October 2022 after a series of poor results.

Together with the club based at Villa Park, Gerrard was only able to record 13 wins, eight draws, and 19 defeats in all competitions.