KUWAIT CITY, July 17: The Kuwait Football Association has initiated the visa application process for the new head coach of the national team, Argentine Juan Antonio Pizzi. The Federation officially announced his appointment two days ago, succeeding Portuguese coach Rui Pinto, to lead the "Blue" in the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

The Association is working swiftly to finalize the visas for Pizzi and his assistant technical staff, which includes assistant coach Nicolas Pizzi, fitness coaches Alejandro Ricino and Matias Ricino, goalkeeper coaches Hernan Castiano and Ignacio Lovri, technical performance analyst Thomas Alfonso, and analyst and translator Anas Al-Makhtoum.

Upon Pizzi’s arrival, the Football Association will meet with him to establish a mechanism and schedule for the team’s training and camp, which is set to begin on August 24 or 25 and will continue until the match against Jordan on September 5. The camp location is yet to be determined.

Acting President of the Kuwait Football Association, Hayef Al-Mutairi announced the contract with Pizzi and his assistant staff. Al-Mutairi stated that after extensive consideration of several candidates, the Board of Directors and the Technical Committee chose Pizzi due to his vast experience. Pizzi previously coached the Saudi national team in the 2018 World Cup, led the Bahrain national team, and won the 2016 Copa America title with the Chilean national team.

Al-Mutairi expressed his hope that Pizzi would succeed in his mission and lead Kuwait to achieve positive results in the upcoming period. He assured that the Association would adequately prepare the team and complete the preparation journey to meet its ambitions. The Association President also thanked the Public Authority for Sports for its support in finalizing the contract procedures with Coach Juan Pizzi.

Pizzi will lead the team in the crucial third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Kuwai begins its campaign against Jordan in Amman on September 5 and will host the Iraq team on September 10 for the second round. Kuwait is in the second group of qualifiers alongside South Korea, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, and Palestine.

Khaled El Anzi

Al-Seyassah/Arab Times Staff