Frenchman Alain Giresse took over on Wednesday as the new coach of the Kosovo national team, the country’s football federation announced.
Giresse, 69, who won the 1984 Euro Cup as a player for France, said he was “looking forward to coaching the Kosovo team”, ranked 109th in FIFA’s rankings.
“The Kosovars are technical players who like to play with the ball. It’s a style I value very much,” she told reporters in Pristina, the country’s capital.
Giresse is a former mythical player in France and a legend of the Bordeaux, with whom he played 593 games and where he is the top scorer, with 181 goals. He placed second in the 1982 Ballon d’Or trophy, behind Italian Paolo Rossi, and won the French Player of the Year award three times (1982, 1983 and 1987).
After his career as an athlete, he became a coach, starting at Toulouse in 1995, before moving on to African football, where he managed Gabon, Mali, Senegal e Tunisia.
Alain Giresse is now committed until November 2023 with Kosovo, who have been without a coach since the departure of Bernard Challandes in October. He will lead the team for the first time in the March friendlies against Switzerland and Burkina Faso.
Kosovo declared its independence in 2008 and was admitted to FIFA and UEFA eight years later. The country has not yet managed to qualify for a major international competition such as the Euro or the World Cup.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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