Vahid Halilhodzic, new Algeria football coach until 2014
Vahid Halilhodzic has been named as the new coach of the Algeria national team, the country's football federation officially announced on Wednesday.
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- The former Yugoslavia striker, who takes over on July 1, has signed a three year contract with the Algerian football Federation taking him up to the 2014 World Cup.
- The 59-year-old coach, who is known as a stickler for rigour and discipline, replaces Abdelhak Benchikha who resigned in the aftermath of Algeria‘s 4-0 thrashing by Morocco in the fourth round of qualifying for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.
- Halilhodzic already has some experience of African football, having been in charge of Ivory Coast between 2008 and 2010.
- It was at the last Nations Cup in Angola in early 2010 that Halilhodzic saw his highly-vaunted Ivory Coast team suffer a surprise quarter-final defeat to Algeria.
- Even though he had qualified the Ivorians for the World Cup later in the year, the Nations Cup setback cost him his job before the tournament in South Africa.
- Halilhodzic also previously worked in North Africa at Moroccan club of Raja Casablanca, winning the African Champions League with them in 1997.
- He also has a vast amount of experience in French club football where he has coached the squads of Lille, Rennes and Paris Saint Germain and was last in charge of Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia.
- Some sources say that Halilhodzic was preferred by the Algerian federation just ahead of former Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann as well as Dunga, who was in charge of Brazil at the last World Cup.
- About 60 candidates from several countries were vying for the post but Halilhodzic eventually topped the standings after a thorough selection by the Algerian football Federation’s decision-making body.