He was an assistant coach next to Abdelhamid Kermali who led the Algerian under-20 youth team in 1978, to the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship. Which in turn was the country’s first participation in a major tournament, since gaining its independence from France. He was replaced by Rachid Hanifi for the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, where they managed to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament with whom they eventually met Argentina with the young Diego Armando Maradona who played remarkably in the competition showing truly what an exceptional talent he was at the time.

On 4 September 2010, the Algerian Football Federation announced on their official website that Rabah Saâdane had resigned, a day after the team’s disappointing 1-1 home draw against Tanzania in a 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifier. The Algerian Football Federation had said that Saâdane had tendered his resignation and that it had been accepted. Saâdane had ended his fifth spell with the national team having steered them to the semi-finals of the 2010 African Cup of Nations, for the first time since 1990, and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, ending a 24-year wait.

On 1 January 2011, Saadane was appointed as manager of the Yemen national football team until 2014. However, 10 days later, it was announced that he would not become the manager because the Yemen Football Association could not meet his financial demands.