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Riyad Mahrez Leaves Manchester City for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli

Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez applauds the fans after the end of the English FA Cup semifinal between Manchester City and Sheffield United at Wembley Stadium in London, Saturday, April 22, 2023. (AP)
Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez applauds the fans after the end of the English FA Cup semifinal between Manchester City and Sheffield United at Wembley Stadium in London, Saturday, April 22, 2023. (AP)
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Riyad Mahrez Leaves Manchester City for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ahli

Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez applauds the fans after the end of the English FA Cup semifinal between Manchester City and Sheffield United at Wembley Stadium in London, Saturday, April 22, 2023. (AP)
Manchester City's Riyad Mahrez applauds the fans after the end of the English FA Cup semifinal between Manchester City and Sheffield United at Wembley Stadium in London, Saturday, April 22, 2023. (AP)

Riyad Mahrez is the latest Premier League player to head to Saudi Arabia after signing with Al-Ahli.

The Algeria international was a key player in Leicester's shocking title win in 2016 and then won the league four more times with Manchester City. He leaves after a season in which City won the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League.

“I’ve made a lifetime of wonderful memories and the manner of our Premier League title wins and the battles we’ve had with Liverpool and, last year, Arsenal, underlined our collective desire and mentality to be the best,” Mahrez said in a statement on City's website.

Mahrez scored 15 goals in 47 games in his final season with City but didn't start in some of the biggest matches. He was an unused substitute in both the Champions League and FA Cup finals, and he only made one substitute appearance from the Champions League quarterfinals onward.

At Al-Ahli, he will join Roberto Firmino, who was formerly with Liverpool, and former Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. Al-Ahli, from the Saudi port city of Jeddah, said the 32-year-old Mahrez signed a contract through the end of the 2026-27 season.

Born in the Paris suburbs, Mahrez came through the French lower leagues before joining Leicester in the English second tier in January 2014. The club was promoted to the Premier League in his first season and Mahrez was crucial to its sensational title win in 2016 with his 17 goals.

Mahrez's heroics at Leicester led to him being named African Player of the Year for 2016. At international level, he captained Algeria to the 2019 African Cup of Nations title.

Al-Ahli is also set to sign one of Europe's highest-rated young coaches in Matthias Jaissle, Austrian club Salzburg said in a statement confirming the 35-year-old German had been released from his duties.

Salzburg said Jaissle asked for a move two days before the new Austrian league season starts, and that talks between the club and Al-Ahli were under way.

Jaissle was praised for reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League with Salzburg in his first season in charge in 2021-22.

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Australia, China Seek 1st Wins in Third Round of Asian World Cup Qualifying

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - AFC Asian Cup - Round of 16 - Australia v Indonesia - Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar - January 28, 2024 Australia's Craig Goodwin celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - AFC Asian Cup - Round of 16 - Australia v Indonesia - Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar - January 28, 2024 Australia's Craig Goodwin celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari/File Photo
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Australia, China Seek 1st Wins in Third Round of Asian World Cup Qualifying

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - AFC Asian Cup - Round of 16 - Australia v Indonesia - Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar - January 28, 2024 Australia's Craig Goodwin celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - AFC Asian Cup - Round of 16 - Australia v Indonesia - Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar - January 28, 2024 Australia's Craig Goodwin celebrates scoring their third goal with teammates REUTERS/Ibraheem Al Omari/File Photo

Australia hosts China in Adelaide on Thursday as both sides seek their first wins in the third round of Asian qualification for the 2026 World Cup, The Associated Press reported.
The Socceroos are in fifth place in Group C, with one point in two games, with China in sixth and last after losing both matches.
After a shock 1-0 home loss to Bahrain and a surprise 0-0 draw with Indonesia in September, Graham Arnold stepped down as Australia coach after six years in the job. Tony Popovic was swiftly appointed.
“This campaign hasn’t started the best, but I know there’s enough time and enough games to really be aiming for that top spot to go through automatically,” Popovic, who led Western Sydney Wanderers to the 2014 Asian Champions League title, said.
Popovic has promised improvements as Australia chase a sixth successive World Cup appearance.
“The team maybe looked a little bit flat,” he said. “I don’t think it’ll take too much to change the way we play ... we do it with the energy, we do it with the desire, and we do it with a speed and dynamic type of play that I think the players will enjoy.”
China, seeking a return to the World Cup since its first and only appearance in 2002, is in a worse position. A 7-0 thrashing in Japan was followed by a home defeat to Saudi Arabia, despite the visitors playing with 10 men for most of the game. China has dropped to 91st in the world rankings, its lowest in eight years, and will be without injured star forward Wu Lei in Australia.
The top two teams in the group meet when Saudi Arabia hosts Japan in Jeddah. Japan then returns home to take on Australia five days later.
“We have games against two of the strongest teams in Asia awaiting,” Japan coach Hajime Moriyasu said. “As we’ve always done, we’ll prepare the best we can to win each match.”
Despite winning both games so far, 7-0 against China and 5-0 against Bahrain, Japan has lost all previous three games in Saudi Arabia.
“The hardest thing is the battle against the heat. Whether we can perform to our level will be key,” Moriyasu said.
The top two from each of the three six-team groups qualify automatically for the 2026 tournament while the third- and fourth-place finishers progress to a fourth round to compete for two more places.
In Group B, South Korea travels to Amman to take on Jordan for the third time in 2024. The first was a 2-2 draw in the group stage of the Asian Cup and then Jordan won 2-0 in the semifinal. Jurgen Klinsmann was then fired as South Korea coach and succeeded by Hong Myung-bo.
South Korea will be without captain Son Heung-min. The Tottenham Hotspur star has a hamstring injury which means the goal-scoring burden is likely to fall on Hwang Hee-chan, another English Premier League attacker who plays for Wolverhampton.
Elsewhere in Group B, Iraq hosts the Palestinian team in Basra while Oman and Kuwait meet.
In Group A, Uzbekistan and Iran have won both games so far and meet in Tashkent. Qatar, the 2022 World Cup host, is seeking a first win in the third round and hosts Kyrgyzstan while North Korea travels to the United Arab Emirates.