Frenchman Renard named coach of Ivory Coast

ABIDJAN, July 31 (Reuters) – Frenchman Herve Renard, who led Zambia to the African Nations Cup title in 2012, was on Thursday named as Ivory Coast coach.

He takes over in charge of Africa’s second-highest ranked team from Sabri Lamouchi, whose contract was not renewed after the Ivorians failed to get past the first round at the World Cup in Brazil last month.

The 45-year-old Renard was chosen ahead of compatriot Frederic Antonetti and Portuguese coach Manuel Jose on a final shortlist of candidates.

Renard left Zambia after last year’s World Cup qualifiers and took over at Ligue 1 club Sochaux but was unable to save them from relegation in May.

(Reporting by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Ed Osmond; [e-mail]; [phone]; Reuters Messaging: [e-mail]; To sign up for our Global Sports Forum chatroom, click on https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/global_sports_forum)