Saudi coach Khalil Zayani won the referendum of the fans for the best coach in the history of the AFC Asian Cup.
Al-Zayani led the Saudi national team to win the 1984 Asian Cup, which is the first of three titles won by Saudi Arabia in the championship.
Al-Zayani won 77% of the votes of the 26,000 participants in the referendum.
The Saudi coach was among ten coaches who competed in this referendum
Khalil Al Zayani led the Saudi national team during his first participation in the Asian Cup finals in 1984 in Singapore, and the team under his leadership became the first team to win the title during its first participation since the coronation of Iran 16 years ago.
The Saudi team did not lose any game during the group stage, including defeating champions Kuwait without a response to qualify the team to the elimination rounds, then beat China with two clean goals in the final.
Al-Zayani also led the Saudi team during his participation in the 1984 Olympics, and he also achieved successes at the club level, especially with Al-Itifaq.
Al-Zayani surpassed two Iranian coaches, Muhammad Rangbar, Heshmat Al-Muhajirani, and three coaches from Brazil: Carlos Alberto Pereira, Zico and Jorvan Vieira, in addition to the Australian Ang Posticoglu, Spanish Felix Sanchez, French Philip Troussier and Italian Alberto Zaccheroni.