Belgian coach Paul Put has been named the new Guinea national football team head coach.
Put, who resigned mid last month as Harambee Stars coach, was on Friday handed over the reigns at the helm of the West African country.
The Belgian welcomed the new development, just a few hours after stating his resignation from his position as the Harambee Stars coach left him with a “broken heart.”
The 61-year-old was on Friday named the Syli Nationale coach on a three-year contract during a press conference held at Guinean Football Federation’s offices in Conakry.
The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) on February 19 announced the Belgian had resigned citing “personal reasons” and two weeks days later, the exclusively told Nation Sport reasons that forced him to throw in the towel.
“I leave Kenya with a broken heart. I resigned to put pressure on the federation so as to respond to my requests but instead, they reacted in a different way and went to the press announcing my resignation before even responding to my letter which, to be honest, was confidential that I expected they will come back for discussions,” Put said.
On Guinea job, Put said: “I want to work, I also have a vision so I can’t sit down. Guinea is a country that has qualified for several times for the Cup of Nations, they have a lot of talented players but because of one reason or the other they are not working as a team. I think I can do a good job there.”
“They have players playing in high level competitions. It will be a good challenge and opportunity for sure, it feels nice for me,” added the Belgian, who replaces Kanfory Bangoura in the country ranked 70th on the Fifa rankings.
The former Gambia and Burkina Faso coach had requested to have his own backroom staff on board, a suggestion FKF reportedly turned down citing financial challenges owing to the withdrawal of SportPesa as the federation’s official sponsors.
Put was appointed as Stars coach on November 18 last year during the annual FKF Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Mombasa and led Kenya to the 2018 Cecafa Senior Challenge title.
