Georgios Donis

Georgios Donis is the head coach of Saudi Arabia at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, appointed on 23 April 2026 on a contract running through July 2027. Born in Frankfurt on 22 October 1969 to Greek parents, Donis is a former midfielder who became the first Greek footballer to play in the English Premier League, with Blackburn Rovers in 1996.

As a player he spent the bulk of his career at Panathinaikos (107 appearances, 31 goals), with spells at Blackburn, AEK Athens, Sheffield United and Huddersfield Town. He won 24 caps for Greece between 1991 and 1997 and scored five international goals.

Donis began his managerial career at AEL Larissa, winning the Greek Cup in 2006–07 and taking the club into the UEFA Cup group stage. He led APOEL Nicosia to the Cypriot league-and-cup double in 2013–14 and into the UEFA Champions League group stage. A spell at Al-Hilal followed, where he won the King Cup of Champions in 2015 and reached the AFC Champions League semi-finals in 2016 — his first taste of Saudi football.

He returns to the Kingdom now as the man who replaces Hervé Renard a little over six weeks before the World Cup. Saudi Arabia are placed in Group H and arrive in North America with experienced internationals such as Salem Al-Dawsari and Ali Al-Bulayhi, asked by Donis to balance the side's traditional defensive discipline with more verticality going forward.