Sergio Conceicao Unveils a Dream Team Behind Al-Ittihad’s Next Era

The Coaching Staff Reveal

Al Ittihad Club announced the identity of the assistant coaching staff for new head coach Sergio Conceicao, who takes the reins after Laurent Blanc. The move underscores the club's ambition to push for more trophies and to strengthen the squad’s identity in domestic and continental competition. The assembled group blends long-time collaborators with specialists, signaling Conceicao's demand for discipline and tactical clarity.

The staff includes Joao Costa as lead assistant, Fabio Mora as second assistant, Diamantino Figueiredo as goalkeeping coach, Siramana Dembele as football analyst, Vedran Runje as second goalkeeping coach, and Bruno Matos as the conditioning coach. The collection carries substantial experience, notably the 65-year-old Figueiredo, who has worked with Conceicao across multiple stops, from Olhanense to Braga, Porto and Milan.

Conceicao’s inner circle is built to support a manager known for his rigorous demands, with a track record of merging practical realism with high-intensity football. The staff’s exposure to top European clubs hints at a blueprint aimed at steady domestic strength and a more competitive European campaign.

The Second Man

The deputy in Conceicao’s setup is Joao Costa, a 52-year-old specialist focusing on physical conditioning. His role highlights the new coach’s emphasis on fitness and data-driven preparation as the backbone of tactical execution and injury prevention.

Costa brings broad experience, including eight years with the Portuguese national team from 2014 to 2022 as a conditioning coach, where he worked with many stars, including current Al Ittihad figure Cristiano Ronaldo. He later had periods with Poland’s national team, Besiktas in Turkey, and Milan, where he linked up with Conceicao again.

Siramana Dembele joins as a football analyst, while Vedran Runje supports the goalkeepers as a second GK coach. Dembele’s presence reinforces the trust Conceicao places in players’ data and video analysis to sharpen decision-making on match day. Runje’s prior stints with Conceicao in Milan and Porto underline a familiar dynamic between manager and staff.

Bruno Matos rounds out the group as the conditioning coach, bringing a complementary skill set to maintain the team’s athletic edge. Overall, the brigade is presented as a unit ready to translate Conceicao’s ideas into a disciplined on-pitch reality.

A New School

Known for a robust, disciplined, tactically pragmatic style, Conceicao emphasizes organization, defensive solidity, and quick transitions. His preferred formations typically swing between 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1, with flexibility to adapt to opponents while maintaining a strong identity in the pressing game and in ball recovery.

The coach’s approach centers on high intensity in the middle of the park, with a focus on reducing space for opponents and forcing errors that can spark rapid counters down the flanks. Physical preparation and tactical discipline are non-negotiables, with players often rotating positions to preserve balance and to exploit spaces created by the press.

Conceicao’s philosophy also spotlights a strong defensive structure, where every player understands his role, while attackers are expected to contribute to pressure and transition moments. His Porto experience is cited as a model of how to blend realism with direct, efficient attacking play, especially in set-pieces and vertical passes toward the frontline runners.

The Portuguese coach is described as having a powerful personality that commands respect in the dressing room, a trait that supporters hope translates into improved consistency and resilience. The goal is to restore a firm identity for Al Ittihad in domestic campaigns and to elevate performance in continental competition.

Blanc Shock

The decision to move on from Laurent Blanc came swiftly after a 1-2 loss to Al Nassr in the Saudi Super Cup semi-final and a subsequent 2-0 defeat to the same rival in a league Klassico, prompting the club to pivot early in the season and install Conceicao’s staff as the backbone of a fresh start.

The changes are framed as a necessary step to reassert the club’s ambitions, with the new setup expected to inject structure and motivation at a time when results had begun to waver. If the plan pays off, Al Ittihad could sharpen its domestic dominance while building a credible European challenge in the coming years.

Punchlines time: If defense were a dating app, Conceicao’s team would be “strictly for commitment, not for casual strolls.” And if football were a set of exams, his press and pace would be the cheat sheet that finally gets the score, without sacrificing the teacher’s patience. Now lace up, the season isn’t waiting for your jokes to warm up—it's waiting for goals to warm the crowd.