Algeria appoint Petkovic as coach

Algeria have appointed former Switzerland manager Vladimir Petkovic to coach their national team, the Algeria Football Association said on Thursday.

The 60-year-old led Switzerland for seven years, guiding them to the quarter-finals of the last European Championship with a last-16 victory over world champions France.

Bosnian-born Petkovic guided Switzerland to the 2018 World Cup and two European Championship finals before a brief spell as coach of French club Girondins de Bordeaux.

Algeria lead their African World Cup qualifying group with six points, ahead of Botswana, Guinea, Uganda, Mozambique and Somalia.

Petkovic replaces Djamel Belmadi, who left in January after twice continental champions Algeria failed to get past the group stage at the Africa Cup of Nations.

(Ahmed Assal and Ashraf Hamed Atta, editing by Ed Osmond)