By Mohamed Assed.
Tripoli, 11 January 2013:
Former France football international Alain Giresse, who had . . .[restrict]reportedly been offered the job of coach for the Libya team, has been appointed coach of Senegal instead. It had already been rumoured in the Libyan sports social media, that Giresse had turned down the Libyan Football Teams’ Committee’s (LFTC) offer to head coach the Libyan football team, but this was seemingly confirmed on Wednesday by the Libyan news agency LANA on Wednesday.
According to LANA, a source close to Giresse reported on a phone call on Tuesday, that the former Euro 84 winner has turned down the offer to head coach the Libyan football team. The source stated that Giresse had been very interested in the initial offer and was quite motivated to take on the job. However, he had rethought the offer and had finally decided not to accept the challenge.
The reasons to Giresse’s decision are thought to be attributed to the recent administrative chaos inside the corridors of the Libyan Football Federation (LFF) without forgetting, of course, the issue of the hour in Libya: security. In the past month, the LFF has witnessed a string of resignations of its top personnel. One notable departure was Ahmed Al-Yazidi who quit the LFF as head of the LFTC.
There was speculation that the French coach, who previously managed Gabon then Mali, was more interested in coaching other football teams, Senegal in particular.
Giresse himself was quoted over a month ago by the Senegalese sports media saying: “I know there is something interesting to do with Senegal (the Senegalese football team). I know what it means to be a football coach in Africa. With Senegal, I would really love to be an active coach.”
Failure to sign Alain Giresse as the new head coach of the Libyan football team is yet another blow for the LFF wanting to build on the recent success of the Libyan football team in the 2012 Arab Cup and the team’s recent good performances in the 2013 AFCON qualifiers — despite the fact that the Libyan football league has now been inactive for almost two years now.
It is hoped that proper governance and directions from the new Sports minister, Abdulsalam Guaila can help bring an end to the chaos in the LFF’s administrative ranks and start afresh, especially now that there is a certain 2014 World Cup qualifier game awating the Mediterranean Knights against Congo in March. [/restrict]
