Egyptian champions Ahly said on Tuesday that they had signed French coach Patrice Carteron on a two-year contract. "After the board's approval, the football committee announces the hiring of Carteron for the next two years," Ahly said in a statement on its official website. "The coach will arrive in Cairo on Wednesday to start the preparations for his mission with the team. The other members of the technical staff will all be Egyptians." The 47-year-old will succeed coach Hossam El-Badry who stepped down on 15 May despite winning a third straight Egyptian Premier League title, the club's 40th overall, with six matches to spare. However, a string of poor results towards the end of the season saw the Reds exit the Egypt Cup and make a disappointing start to their African Champions League group-stage campaign. Ahly were held to a goalless draw at home by Tunisian giants Esperance de Tunis, before losing to Kampala 2-0 and falling to the bottom of Group A with only one point from their opening two matches. This prompted El-Badry to resign, despite his recent achievements with the The eight-time African champions. The new Ahly coach has notable achievements on the African scene, guiding Mali's national team to the 2013 African Cup of Nations semis, before guiding Congolese club TP Mazembe from May 2013 to January 2016 to win one Champions League title and three other Super Cup titles. Carteron had a previous stint in the Egyptian Premier League as the head coach of Wadi Degla in the 2016/2017 season. The team won 20 of 30 matches under the French coach's guidance. The former boss of Saudi club Al-Nasr, Carteron reportedly left Wadi Degla due to financial issues with the club at the time. "The football committee chose Carteron from many other choices as they saw him the best choice for Ahly in the current period," Ahly's statement explained. "He is a young coach, ambitious, knows the Egyptian league well and finally he has a unique style." "Carteron appreciates Ahly and its fans' ambitions and knows well that the team always plays to win titles." In May Ahly announced the club's former coach Mohamed Youssef had been signed as the new assistant manager to the new foreign coach. Alongside Youssef, Samy Qomsan has been also named as a trainer and Samir Adly as administrative manager. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
