Muscat: The Oman Football Association (OFA) announced on Monday appointed new Spanish head coaches for the national under-19 and under-16 teams.
David Gordo Mansilla will be in charge of the under-19 team and Pablo Herrero Fernandez will head the under-16 coaching team.
A press release from the OFA said that the agreement with both Spanish coaches is inline to the OFA’s strategy to set up strong national teams with top international standards. Moreover, the goal is to have a developed junior national teams that can add positively to the senior national team.
WORLD CUP EXPERIENCE
The Spanish coaches will be assisted by national coaches including Ahmed Al Alawi as second assistant coach for coach Mansilla in the U-19 team besides first assistant coach Khalid Ghanim from Egypt. Other coaching staff in U-19 team will feature Julio Diaz as goalkeeper coach and Jose Diaz as performance analyst.
The coaching posts became vacant as former coaches Yaqboo al Sabahi (U-19) and Hilal al Oufi (U-16 team) quit the team after reaching the Asian Cup.
Mansilla, 52 years old, will replace Al Sabahi and aims to position the junior national team in better position at the GCC, Arab, continental and international levels.
The former head coach of Spain U-18, U-17 and U-16 teams assumed charge and began visiting clubs and matches few days ago. Mansilla had won many titles with the Spain team. Under his supervision, the Spanish U17 team finished runners-up of the Fifa World Cup for U-17 twice. He served many clubs including Real Madrid U-18 team besides leading technical staff of CD Legan, AD Alcoric, RSD Alcal, CUC Villalba among others.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERTISE
The coaching staff of the U-16 team will comprise Spaniard Pablo Herrero Fernandez as head coach, national coach Anwar al Habsi, who hails from Al Mudhaibi, will be the assistant coach. Jassim al Dohani will be goalkeeping coach and Nasser al Abri will be the fitness coach.
Fernandez took charge of the post since his arrival to the Sultanate of Oman last week as he attended some league matches. The Spanish coach had last served as the assistant coach of Real Murcia FC during June 2020 to October 2021. The previous post was as assistant coach of Burgos CF for one year.
The 45 years old coach managed Real Club Recreativo de Huelva for one season before moving to Burgos CF. Fernandez begun his journey in June in 2009 as head coach of CF Rayo Majadahonda. He is an experienced coach and posses 14 years in coaching top professional players. He is holder of Master degree in sports coaching.
On the other hand, OFA signed an agreement with the Saudi former referee Ali Ahmed al Turaifi as umpiring expert. The former international umpire was the main referee in five fixtures at the Fifa World Cup in 2002.
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