Uganda sign new national football coach

KAMPALA, Dec. 29 (Xinhua) -- The Uganda FA unveiled a new national football coach Sebastien Desabre on Thursday.

The 41-year-old Frenchman takes over from Serbian Milutin Sredojevic who terminated his contract in July this year after accumulated unpaid salary of 54,000 U.S. dollars.

"Desabre will supervise all the national development teams (U-23, U-20 and U-17) because FUFA's philosophy is to build football from the grass-roots," said Edgar Watson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (FUFA).

Desabre will be assisted by Mathias Lule as the immediate assistant coach and Fred Kajoba as goalkeeping coach.

The Frenchman who quit his job as Ismaily coach in Egypt this week before taking up the Uganda job immediately joined the national team for a training session at the Nelson Mandela National Stadium, Namboole.

Desabre leaves Ismaily top of the Egyptian Premier League with 37 points from 16 games, while giants Al Ahly are second with 30 points from 13 games played.

The Frenchman has a rich club coaching profile after handling ESC Rocheville (France) as assistant, ASEC Mimosas (Cote d'Ivoire), CS Garoua (Cameroon), ES Tunis (Tunisia), Clube Recreativo Desportivo Libolo (Angola), Dubai Club (United Arab Emirates), JS Saoura (Algeria), Wydad Athletic Club (Morocco) and Ismaily.

His first task will be to lead Uganda at the 2018 Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) which runs Jan. 13 to Feb. 4 in Morocco.

Uganda will play along side Zambia, Namibia and Cote dd'Ivoire in Group B. Enditem