Burkina Faso's Velud latest Cup of Nations coaching casualty

OUAGADOUGOU : Burkina Faso have decided not to renew the contract of coach Hubert Velud after their Africa Cup of Nations last-16 exit, the country’s football federation said on Friday.

Burkina Faso were eliminated by neighbours Mali in the first knockout round, having finished second in their group behind Angola but ahead of top seeded Algeria. Velud was making a belated first appearance on the bench at the Cup of Nations.

The 64-year-old Frenchman was shot in the arm in an attack on the Togo team bus by separatists in the Angolan enclave of Cabinda on the eve of the 2010 Cup of Nations finals. He and the rest of the Togo side went home before the tournament started.

Velud then got Sudan to the last finals in Cameroon two years ago but was fired weeks before the kick off after a poor performance at the 2021 Arab Cup in Qatar. 

He joins the list of coaches who have already departed after the Cup of Nations tournament in Ivory Coast.

Djamel Belmadi (Algeria), Rui Vitoria (Egypt), Tom Saintfiet (Gambia), Chris Hughton (Ghana), Baciro Cande (Guinea Bissau), Jean-Louis Gasset (Ivory Coast), Adel Amrouche (Tanzania) and Jalel Kadri (Tunisia) have all left their posts in recent weeks.