By David Gold
August 30 – Henri Michel has been named as the new coach of the Kenyan national team, replacing Francis Kimanzi after the country failed to qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa.
Kenya (pictured below, in red) was eliminated on away goals by Togo in the first round of the qualifying campaign.
The 64-year-old Frenchman (pictured top) – who has previously managed a number of African nations – will look to restore Kenyan football pride, with the nation sitting 126th in the FIFA rankings.
Kenya has never qualified for a FIFA World Cup finals and last reached the African Nations Cup finals in 2004.
Michel reportedly beat off competition from former France coach Raymond Domenech and Belgian Tom Saintfiet, manager of Tanzanian League Champions Young Africans, for the role.
“The main focus will be on building sound structures and frameworks that will help develop football in Kenya,” said Kenya Football Federation (KFF) chief Sam Nyamweya, who hopes Michel can lead the country to the World Cup in Brazil in 2014.
Kenya faces Namibia, Nigeria and Malawi in its World Cup qualifying campaign.
Michel’s last coaching job in Africa was with Equatorial Guinea which he left just before the start of the African Nations Cup it co-hosted with Gabon earlier this year citing interference in his role.
Among his career highlights he coached his native France to gold at the 1984 Olympic Games and third place at the 1986 World Cup.
He also led the Ivory Coast to the 2006 World Cup in Germany and although the African nation went out at the group stage it put up impressive performances against Argentina and the Netherlands.
He has also taken charge of Morocco twice as well as Cameroon and Tunisia.
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