RIYADH — After just five rounds of the Saudi Pro League season, Al-Shabab Football Club took swift action and fired Dutch coach Marcel Keizer from his role as the head coach of the first squad. The reason? The team's underwhelming performance.
Al-Shabab reported that the club's administration had appointed Juan Brown, an Argentine who coaches the club's junior squad, and his coaching staff to oversee the senior football team temporarily.
Brown has past experience in the Saudi Professional League, having participated in 16 games there. In those games, he recorded five victories, nine losses, and two draws while managing clubs like Al-Hilal, Al-Wehda, Egypt's Ismaily, and Argentina's U-20 national team.
Keizer spent just 43 days at Al-Shabab after the club's administration hired him on July 27 for a one-season contract.
In his five games as manager, the Dutch coach managed just two points out of a possible 15, with two draws and three losses, leaving Al-Shabab in the 17th spot in the Saudi League rankings, just above the team in last place, Al-Hazm.
The 54-year-old Dutch coach had a wealth of professional coaching experience prior to joining Al-Shabab, including tenures with illustrious teams like Ajax Amsterdam in the Netherlands, Sporting Lisbon in Portugal, and most recently, Al-Jazira in the United Arab Emirates for four years, ending at the end of the previous season.
He won the Super Cup and the UAE Pro League championships with Al-Jazira in 2021.
Vicente Moreno, a Spanish coach who spent one season with the team, was replaced as head coach of Al-Shabab by Keizer. The club's management did not elect to extend Moreno's contract.
