Democratic Republic of Congo’s FECOFA has appointed former Egypt coach Hector Raul Cuper as their new national head coach.
The 65 Argentine will steer DR Congo in the forthcoming FIFA World Cup qualifiers for the 2022 edition to be held in Qatar.
Initially, DR Congo were in negotiations with AFCON winning coach Hugo Bros but the Belgian tactician joined South Africa’s Bafana Bafana instead.
Cuper replaces Christian Nsengi Biembe who was sacked after the Leopards failed to qualify for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament in Cameroon.
DR Congo failed to qualify for the AFCON for the first time since the 2012 edition in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea.
Cuper was the head coach of Egypt for three years and guided them to the 2017 AFCON tournament in Gabon and the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
He has previously coached at Inter Milan, Parma, Real Betis, Valencia, Racing Santander in Italy and Spain. His most recent assignment was being the head coach of Uzbekistan.
DR Congo were drawn against Benin, Madagascar and Tanzania in Group J of the World Cup qualifiers.
Cuper’s first game is expected to be against Benin when the aforementioned qualification campaign kicks off.
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