Matthias Jaissle is set to be Newcastle’s new coach: Meet the Rangnick disciple working in Saudi Arabia

A version of this article was first published in January; it has been updated after the news that Jaissle is being lined up to take over as Newcastle coach

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When the full-time whistle blew at the Alinma Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Matthias Jaissle was wild-eyed.

It was May 2025 and his Al Ahli side had just beaten Kawasaki Frontale 2-0 in the AFC Champions League final, becoming Asian champions for the first time in their history.

Looking distinctly German in his polo-neck shirt and flushed by the heat, Jaissle pumped his fists and roared, as backroom staff and players scattered in celebration.

“It was a pure release,” Jaissle tells The Athletic, “because it was a big ‘yes’ to the step I made two years before and it showed me that it was the right decision. We had won the biggest trophy in Asia and it made everything completely worthwhile.”

“Everything” describes quite a journey.

Now 38, Jaissle never intended to coach. He was a centre-back as a player and, by 18, having been signed from Stuttgart by their then manager Ralf Rangnick, was playing for Hoffenheim, becoming part of their journey up the leagues and to Bundesliga promotion in 2008.

He was a Germany Under-21 international until injury intervened. Jaissle suffered an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear in a 2009 game against Hannover and was never the same. He retired at 26 but, thanks to Rangnick, by then RB Leipzig’s head of sport, was invited onto a trainee programme within the club’s youth department.

Jaissle worked as an assistant to current Stuttgart head coach Sebastian Hoeness, who was in charge of Leipzig’s under-16 side. In 2017, he became Alexander Zorniger’s assistant at Brondby, the Danish Super Liga club. And, by 2019, he had returned to the Red Bull network to become head coach of RB Salzburg’s under-18s.

Two years later came a series of fortunate breaks. First, he replaced Bo Svensson as coach of FC Liefering, Salzburg’s feeder club, when the Dane took over at Mainz. Then, when Jesse Marsch left Salzburg for their sister club in Leipzig, Jaissle was in position to succeed him.

He became head coach of the serial Austrian champions at just 33.

But Jaissle’s age was a virtue. It allowed him to connect with a young squad that included Benjamin Sesko, Karim Adeyemi, Noah Okafor and Brenden Aaronson.

In 2021-22, Salzburg won a league and cup domestic double, also becoming the first Austrian team to reach the Champions League round of 16. It was a hugely significant moment for the club.

Another league title followed in 2022-23, and while Salzburg were eliminated from their Champions League group, that came after creditable draws with Chelsea and Milan.

Then came that abrupt change of direction.

At the end of July 2023, just two days before the new season, a terse Salzburg statement revealed that Jaissle had been temporarily relieved of his duties, allowing him to focus on negotiations with Al Ahli.

“Yes, you’re not the first person to see it as a remarkable move,” he says now from his office in Jeddah, with the club’s sun-scorched training ground in the background.

“But back then, it was really spontaneous. I wish the timing had been different, but sometimes that’s how it is in football. There’s interest, or an offer, and then you need to decide quickly.

“But for me, the thought back then was obviously — and let’s be completely honest — that financially it was something I just had to consider. But the other part was the chance to coach a team who had just got promoted into the first league, with a huge fanbase and with some big stars — some superstars, really — and it was a big step for me.”

The contract offer from Al Ahli, majority owned by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and one of the country’s most popular clubs, was enormous and came with the opportunity to coach previously Europe-based players in Roberto Firmino, Riyad Mahrez, Franck Kessie and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

He accepted, but the response was not favourable.

His departure from Salzburg was provocative. So were his new employers. Saudi Arabia remains inextricably associated with human-rights abuses, and the Saudi Pro League has long faced accusations of being a tool for ‘sportswashing’. Newcastle, where he is headed next, is also majority owned by PIF.

Every player and coach who has left Europe to work there has faced criticism and is asked the same questions.

“Naturally, I also thought about this beforehand,” Jaissle says.

“The sporting side was not the only factor. Yes, I’d read the headlines but at the same time I was aware that the country was taking some positive steps to open up. There is a positive energy, that things are better than before and will keep getting better in the future. Not just in the club but across the city and country, especially among the young people.

“Obviously, change doesn’t happen overnight. It will take time. It’s growing so fast and that gives you hope for the future. I’ve seen for myself that in many ways they are on the right path. And for now, I’m happy. I’m settled, I have a good life here.

“And I wanted the challenge. I wanted to coach abroad, in a different culture, and to work in English, which is not my native language.

“So, I saw it as a chance to develop as a coach. I’m still young, but I felt I was experienced enough to manage the expectations and the players, and to lead the team in the way that I had in Salzburg and for my style of play to be recognisable.”

That style is what you would expect given his coaching upbringing. Jaissle wants his players to have agency on the ball, but for that expression to exist within a framework and be supported by intense defensive work.

“I want stress on the opponent as soon as possible,” he says. “And when we win the ball, I want to go as quickly as possible towards the opponent’s goal. I’m very vertical in that approach.”

The Rangnick influence is clear. But as naturally as that comes to the players within the Red Bull system, in the world outside it is not the same.

“We haven’t had a set way of playing here that has been established over many years, and the Al Ahli players haven’t been learning how to play in one way since they arrived at the academy,” Jaissle says.

“Instead, the club did what was possible in the transfer market, bringing players here with different sorts of backgrounds, and so I have had to adapt my thinking at times.

“A player like Riyad Mahrez, for instance. He played for Pep Guardiola (at Manchester City) for a long time and won so many trophies, so he is going to think in a different way and have a different mindset. The challenge for me is to bring all those different styles inside a common identity.”

The inequities within the squad were another issue. After arriving, Jaissle fielded teams comprised partly of recognisable names, all on decadent wages, and more modest players. Whatever the differences, it had to work.

“When I arrived, I was determined that I wasn’t going to treat big stars differently from how I’d treated the young players in Salzburg,” he says. “I was going to lead them in the same way: treat them with respect and ask for their commitment and hold everyone to the same standard.

“At the same time, if you have players who have been in big leagues, you need to show appreciation for what they have already achieved.”

Salzburg’s domestic advantages often saw them face deep-lying defences in Austria. But having to pivot tactically in Europe competition, in which Jaissle’s team were often at a technical disadvantage, helped prepare him for his new role. Al Ahli are certainly among the wealthy few in the Saudi Pro League, but they do not enjoy a monopoly.

“In Austria, we often faced teams who played a low block, but adaptation was always really important,” he explains. “In the league, we could play our way, using the identity we had in the academy, up through Liefering, and into the first team.

“But sometimes in the Champions League, I would try to do the same thing. You can’t always do that. You have to be smarter. There are times in the game where you have to play deep, which was not natural to us, and when you have to change the depth of your back four or alter the space between the defenders.

“That helped prepare me for coming here. I had a squad that was completely different in profile, and I had to think much more game-to-game about formation, how and when to press, and that forced me to become much more flexible — to develop as a coach.”

Al Ahli finished third in the Saudi Pro League in his first season, then fifth in his second, while winning the AFC Champions League. When Jaissle speaks to The Athletic, his team are on an eight-match winning streak, and will eventually finish fifth. In April, they will also defend their Champions League title, beating Japanese club Machida Zelvia 1-0 to become back-to-back champions.

Jaissle has had to be resilient. The wealth in Saudi Arabian football means that better-known coaching replacements are regularly proposed. In January 2025, following patchy form, it was reported that now Milan coach Massimiliano Allegri had “agreed in principle” to be the German’s replacement.

The club’s ultras took Jaissle’s side, hanging banners outside the team’s headquarters, protesting against executive management for, in their words, making him a scapegoat for underinvestment.

The previous summer, the club had failed to replace former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin, who had been loaned to Fenerbahce in Turkey. Al Ahli signed Ivan Toney from Brentford, but he was slow to adapt.

The club bowed to supporter pressure a few days after the January protests and announced that Jaissle’s position was secure. And, at the end of the month, a €50million ($60m; £43m at current exchange rates) deal was struck for Galeno, Porto’s Brazilian winger, and Al Ahli’s form dramatically improved.

They lost only four league games between the end of January and May, while advancing to that Champions League final, which Jeddah hosted. When they got there, having beaten Al Hilal in the semi-finals, Galeno opened the scoring with one of the goals of the season.

DEADLOCK BROKEN 🔓

Galeno goes top bins with an INCREDIBLE strike to give Al-Ahli the lead in the AFC Champions League final 🚀 pic.twitter.com/SYlnGInBlN

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 3, 2025

“It was such a beautiful journey,” Jaissle remembers.

“Hard, yes — absolutely — but beautiful, and it’s something that will last forever, and that people can one day tell their grandchildren about.

“Football coaching is about creating good memories, and that was something that you can never forget. To have the opportunity to win a title like that, with such marvellous players, and for fans who are so passionate. The celebration afterwards was crazy; it was spectacular.”

In Europe, though, it’s difficult to know what kind of cachet winning the biggest trophy in Asian club football carries. To be out of sight must feel like being out of mind. Was that not a risk when he left Austria?

“Yes, that’s a good question, and I was definitely concerned,” Jaissle answers.

“But I spoke to other coaches and looked at who else was working here, and it wasn’t just players at the end of their careers, nor was it coaches at the end, either. There were some in their prime, with many trophies to their name already, but others who have made the move back to Europe, too.

“Stefano Pioli (who coached Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr from 2024-2025 and had a brief spell in charge of Fiorentina last year) is a good example. Nuno Espirito Santo (now at West Ham United after being in charge of Al Ittihad from 2022-2023) is another. It said to me: OK, there’s a way back if you do well.

“I don’t really make plans anymore. Football is too unpredictable. Instead, I just want to keep moving forward, keep being inspired by different things and to get to know new people. You need new input, because that’s where progress comes from. Hopefully there’s more trophies, but — more than that — hopefully there are more memories.

“Just like you, I’m curious where I’ll be in 10 or 20 years, too.”

For Jaissle, his next step is now expected to be Newcastle and the Premier League.