Spaniard Pizzi took over the role vacated by Rui Bento after the Portuguese helped Kuwait return to the third round of the FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the first time since the 2006 edition.

“Acting Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Kuwait Football Association, Hayef Al-Mutairi, announced that the Federation has signed a contract with Argentine coach Juan Pizzi for one year to lead the Kuwaiti senior national team in the third round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers,” read the statement from KFA on X.

“The President of the Federation confirmed that the Board of Directors and the Technical Committee of the Federation settled on coach Pizzi after extensive study of a number of coaches, due to the great experience that the Argentine coach possesses, as he had previously trained the Saudi national team in the 2018 World Cup, and also coached the Bahrain national team, in addition to winning the Copa America 2016 with the Chilean national team.”

The Argentine-born was previously in charge of the Chile and Saudi Arabia national teams as well as at club level with Valencia in Spain and Al Wasl in the United Arab Emirates.

The 56-year-old will be tasked with steering Kuwait through AFC Asian Qualifiers – Road to 26 after they were drawn in Group B alongside Korea Republic, Iraq, Jordan, Oman and Palestine.