Marc Canham, the former director of football at the Football Association of Ireland, has landed a new role with the Saudi Arabian FA as head of football development.
Canham worked for the FAI for just under three years, stepping away in April 2025. He headed up the long search for a successor to Stephen Kenny as the Ireland senior men’s manager, which culminated in the hiring of Heimir Hallgrímsson.
He also presided over the appointment of Carla Ward as manager of the senior women’s international team but subsequently faced criticism over the handling of the process, which led to the departures of Eileen Gleeson and her assistant Colin Healy.
His signature piece of work at the FAI was an overall blueprint for the sport titled the Football Pathways Plan. Its central pillar was the aligning of all levels of the game here along the same calendar, but this plan was officially shelved by the FAI earlier this month.
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Canham worked as an adviser and consultant on several projects across football since leaving the FAI, helping the Welsh FA develop a new high-performance strategy. He has now returned to full-time work with the Saudi FA, with a job spec broadly similar to that which he held at the FAI. Canham says he will be responsible for the strategic development of grassroots football, coach education and professional development in the men’s and women’s game.
The biggest difference between Canham’s previous job and his new role is obviously one of budget: a legacy plan attached to the kingdom’s pitch as hosts of the 2034 World Cup promises to invest $300 million every year to catalyse the development of football clubs.
