Al Hilal Saudi Arabia appoints Richard Hughes as sporting director

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(CNN) - Al Hilal Saudi Arabia announced, through its account on the X platform, on Sunday, the appointment of Scot Richard Hughes as the club’s sporting director.

Blue Crescent said that Hughes began his duties after arriving in Riyadh recently.

The club, which is active in the Roshen League, explained that this contract comes “as part of the club company’s steps to strengthen the football system and develop its sports structure with specialized competencies, which contributes to raising the quality of technical work, developing recruitment and scouting processes, and enhancing integration in various aspects related to the football sector.”

Al-Hilal stated that businessman Al-Waleed bin Talal sponsored the contracts of the sports management team, “as an extension of his exceptional support for Al-Hilal, and his keenness to strengthen the club’s system with qualitative competencies, in a way that supports his sports career and achieves his future aspirations.”

Al-Hilal revealed that the club’s sports department also includes the Englishman Simon Francis (football technical director) and his compatriot Harry Arter (senior technical scout), the Scottish Mark Burchill (recruitment manager) and his compatriot Craig Mackey (scouting director), and the Saudi Abdul Hakim Al-Tuwaijri (technical director for the Sunni groups).

Who is Richard Hughes?