Published On 4/28/2026
A media report stated that the management of Al Hilal Saudi Football Club entered into advanced negotiations with Richard Hughes, sporting director of the English team Liverpool, to assume leadership of the club’s sports management in the coming period.
Al-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper quoted private sources as saying that the negotiations between the two parties extended for several months, and ended with a final approval from Hughes, with him proposing a regulatory condition requiring him to work in person 4 days a week from the club’s headquarters in Riyadh, in exchange for one day spent in Dubai with his family.
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Hughes bases this requirement on the nature of his team’s work, which focuses on strategic aspects, starting with defining the team’s technical identity, through preparing “contract plans” to ensure the availability of ready-made alternatives at the level of the technical staff and players, all the way to developing the age groups.
The Hughes team includes specialists in discovering talent, both at the local and international levels, within a system that aims to build a sustainable base of players.
Hughes believes that a 4-day presence at the club headquarters is sufficient to cover these aspects, in light of the rest of the team members continuing to work from Riyadh.
While it is said that the one-day requirement may constitute a point of contention that hinders the completion of the deal, the sources denied the validity of what was rumored about Hughes’ request to work remotely or be satisfied with intermittent visits to the club’s headquarters, stressing that the proposal is based on a regular physical presence in Riyadh.
It should be noted that a number of other Saudi clubs, such as Al-Ahly, Al-Ittihad, Al-Nasr, NEOM, Al-Qadisiyah and Al-Khuloud, have stable foreign sports administrations in recent seasons, at a time when Al-Hilal seeks to complete this aspect before the start of its new season.
