The Congolese Federation of Association Football (Fécofa) has chosen the French technician, Sébastien Desabre, to succeed the Argentinian Hector Cuper, at the head of the DRC selection. The announcement of this decision was made on August 6 by the national football governing body, which has been headed by interim president Donatien Tshimanga for more than a year, after a meeting of its executive committee.
But this choice on the former coach of the Cranes of Uganda and current coach of Niort in French L2 seems controversial. The sporting director of the Niort club, Mikaël Hanouna reacted to this information. He said he was unaware of an agreement between the Congolese Federation and Niort coach Sébastien Desabre. The press release from the Chamois Niortais club states: “ Following information published today on the official website of Fécofa, announcing the appointment of Sébastien Desabre as coach, the Chamois Niortais Football Club expresses its surprise and wishes to clarify the situation. The Chamois Niortais Football Club has never been in contact with Fécofa about its coach Sébastien Desabre and reiterates its desire to keep him beyond his current contract. In addition, the Chamois Niortais Football Club reserves the right to take any action against Fécofa following the particularly unwelcome publication of this « official » announcement on the day of its first home match of the 2022/2023 League season. 2 BKT« .
However, we retain from Sébastien Desabre that he is a connoisseur of African football. Born on August 2, 1974 in Valence, France, he trained Es Le Cannet Rocheville in France before heading to Africa already in 2010 at only 34 years old. Since 2010, he has therefore managed the technical staff of Asec Mimosa in Côte d’Ivoire, CS Garoua in Cameroon, Espérance Sportive de Tunis in Tunisia, Recreativo do Libolo in Angola, Dubai Club in the United Arab Emirates, JS Saoura in Algeria, Wydad Athletic Club of Casablanca in Morocco, Ismaily SC in Egypt, Pyramids of Egypt, and finally Chamois Niortais since 2020.
It should be noted that he led Uganda from 2017 to 2019. He was on the bench for the Ugandan Cranes who beat the DRC Leopards on June 22, 2019 by two goals to nil, in a group match at the final phase of the FIFA Cup. of Nations 2019 in Egypt. It was Uganda’s first victory in the AFCON finals after 41 years of drought. We are waiting to see with the press release from Niort whether Sébatien Desabre will be able to offer his services to both Niort and the Leopards of the DRC.
It is recalled that the Leopards occupy the last place in their qualifying group for the African Cup of Nations Côte d’Ivoire 2023 after two defeats on the first day against the Panthers of Gabon at home and against the Crocodiles of the Nile of Sudan. in Khartoum. Sébastien Desabre therefore has the mission of bringing the Leopards back into the race for qualification.
