Fans make the difference: a storm of anger drives the sporting director out of Al-Ahly

The upscale district has recently witnessed major changes.

Al-Ahli fans made headlines in Saudi football over the past few hours, after igniting a revolt that ultimately led to the removal of Portuguese sporting director Rui Pedro from his post.

Saudi journalist Waleed Saeed revealed the news in a tweet on his personal account on the "X" platform, saying the Al-Ahli board had decided to terminate Rui Pedro's contract.

The decision came just hours after Al-Ahli fans launched an angry campaign demanding his dismissal over the poor management of the transfers file during the current summer window.

Their revolt began with the signing of Ukrainian midfielder Artem Bondarenko from Shakhtar. Supporters objected to his arrival on the grounds that he was below standard, especially as he would serve as a replacement for Ivorian Franck Kessié.

Anger grew when news emerged that Al-Ahli were close to signing Frenchman Baby Cabral, the Monaco midfielder, despite the fact that he had featured for the French side for just 114 minutes last season.

Supporters accused the Portuguese of squandering the club's resources. Reports confirmed that Al-Ahli would pay 12 million euros to sign the player of Senegalese origin, despite his market value being only 1.2 million euros.

It has been a series of blunders for Al-Ahli during the current mercato. They let go of Algerian star Riyad Mahrez, as well as Kessié, and also failed to keep their former German coach Matthias Jaissle, who moved to manage Newcastle United.

Rui Pedro had taken up the role of sporting director at Al-Ahli last October, after holding the same position with Portuguese club Benfica between 2021 and 2025.