Scottish Richard Daniel Hughes was born on June 25, 1979 in the capital city of Glasgow. He was the second son among four brothers: Patrick, the eldest, then Peter and Chris, the youngest.
The family later moved to Biserra Borromeo, southeast of Milan. The father was an ardent Celtic fan and regaled his children with memories of attending the 1967 European Cup Final in Lisbon. He had Milan season tickets and often took Richard to the San Siro to watch the team during the era of Arrigo Sacchi, Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi and Marco van Basten.
Hughes grew up learning English at home and Italian on the street with friends.
At the age of ten, he was offered to join the Milan Academy, but he turned down the offer due to his shyness at the time, as he later said.
He started his professional career in the English club “Bournemouth” in 1998 and played with them until 2002 in 131 matches, during which he scored 14 goals.
He then moved to Portsmouth in 2002, where he made 131 appearances and scored three goals until 2011, with a short loan spell at Grimsby Town in 2003, during which he made 12 appearances and scored one goal.
On 15 August 2007, Hughes was head-butted by Cristiano Ronaldo during a match against Manchester United after he provoked, according to the story, which resulted in the Portuguese star being sent off in a 1-1 draw. Hughes was part of the Portsmouth side that won the FA Cup in the 2007–08 season, although he did not feature in the final.
He returned to Bournemouth in 2012 and made 26 appearances, scoring one goal, before retiring in May 2014 at the age of 34, taking his total professional appearances to 300, scoring 17 goals.
From 2004 to 2005, he represented Scotland in five games without scoring.
After retirement, he moved into administrative work, taking over as Bournemouth manager in 2016, where he built a strong reputation for discovery and signings over the years, overseeing the signings of high-profile players such as Tyrone Mings, Dominic Solanke, David Brooks and Lloyd Kelly.
On 20 March 2024, Liverpool announced the appointment as sporting director, replacing German Jörg Schmadke, to work under Michael Edwards, executive director of football at Fenway Sports Group, which owns the club.
They previously knew each other when Hughes was a footballer and Edwards was a pundit at Portsmouth.
One of his first tasks is to select Dutchman Arne Slott as Jurgen Klopp’s successor.
He also oversaw the 2025 summer transfer window, which saw Liverpool spend an estimated £446 million, the highest ever for an English club in a single window, and included deals for the likes of Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekiti, Milos Kerkes, Jeremy Frimpong and Giovani Leon.
Off the pitch, Hughes co-owns an Italian restaurant with his siblings called Millie E Peri, which his brother Peter opened in London’s Soho area in 2012 and still runs. He is married with five children who live in England due to his frequent weekly work-related commutes.
Hughes does not forget the complex left in him by the famous Italian striker Filippo Inzaghi, when the latter played in the first team of Atalanta, and Hughes in the youth team.
Every week he was tasked with monitoring Inzag in training drills, he would come home and tell his father that he thought he was doing well, to which his father would reply: “But he scored a hat-trick!” This happened every week, which made him feel very frustrated.
In Riyadh today, Al Hilal’s new sporting director Hughes, 47, will once again work with Inzaghi’s younger brother Simeone, hoping to forget the torment caused by older brother Filippo in his youth.
Ronaldo was sent off and Inzaghi stopped.. Who is Hughes, the new coach of Al Hilal?
