A day after a Romanian football coach signed a two-year contract with Saudi Arabia’s popular club al-Hilal, his wife Ana Maria Prodan – a Las Vegas gambler and Playboy-featured model - has become a subject of controversy among Saudi fans.

Prodan is reportedly the first female FIFA-licensed agent in Romania. A Las Vegas resident, she supplements her income through gambling and modeling. Her latter work includes a photo-shoot for Playboy.

It is not yet clear whether she will make the move to Saudi Arabia with her husband.

Ana MAria

Her lifestyle, which has apparently irked al-Hilal’s fans, could very well scupper her husband’s precious $2.5 million deal.

“The wife of al-Hilal’s manager works as club president, activist, agent and former addict. My comment is: a coach who is unable to control his wife, how can he control [al-Hilal player Nawaf] Al Abed,” writes Faisal al-Mohlaki (@faisalalmohlaki).

The Spoiler website describes her as football agent and model “who hates pants.”

ana

If she relocates to Saudi Arabia, she would certainly have to cover most of her body when in public or risk getting in trouble with the religious police – officially called the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Ana MAria

A Saudi Twitter user (@A_Al3li_) tweeted a picture of a religious police car along with a comment that read: “Ana Maria Prodan, the wife of Laurențiu Reghecampf and his agent, works in a nude club, let’s send her this picture maybe it would help.”

Another user (@tntaws) said Prodan should be banned from entering Saudi Arabia because “she is a model for pornographic magazines.”

A wave of other tweets sought to expose different sides of Prodan’s lifestyle to make the case against her entry into the kingdom.

Fahad Allehibi (@AllehibiF) wrote: “The wife of al-Hilal’s coach (former addict)...husband is match fixer and wife is an addict.”

Another user was more specific, describing her as “gambling addict.”

During a recent interview with Casino-Magazine, she said: “I love Las Vegas but I play responsibly . I enjoy it along with my friends and I never play my minds or all my money … When I was younger, I would just throw myself forward. Now I realize that everything in life needs to be done thinking, especially in gambling.”

But not all Saudi twitter users viewed her with hostility.

Reema Abdalla (@Reema_abdalla) writes that Prodan “could help us if she comes we could sign a deal :) the wife of al-Hilal’s new coach[is] activist and former addict [but] we don’t care ... what’s important is that she is head of a football club.”

Some of the tweets were written under the hashtag

No_To_Reghecampf_Yes_To_Sami.

The aim of the hashtag is to pressure al-Hilal’s administration into rehiring former coach Sami al-Jaber and dropping Laurențiu Reghecampf.

Saudi Ahmad al-Hilali, who tweets under the name @hmdnAHMED, wrote: “Let the Romanian (coach) and his country’s press realize the desire of Al-Hilal fans.”

Shatha, who tweets under @BlueShatha, said she wants al-Jaber to remain al-Hilal’s coach forever.

Abdullah al-Anqiri, @3z_alang, tweeted saying: “we don’t need you Reghecampf. Please stay in your home don’t come to Hilal. We all want Sami.”





Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:43 - GMT 06:43