Morocco appoints Liz Mills as men's team coach, a first in the Arab world

Trailblazing Australian basketball coach Liz Mills has made sporting history again by becoming the first woman to coach a professional men's team in Morocco.

Mills has been hired by AS Sale, who compete in Morocco's top division, and will be the first female head coach in the Basketball Africa League when the joint NBA-FIBA competition starts its second season next month.

«It's with great pleasure that we confirm the hiring of coach Liz Mills as head of AS Sale's technical staff for the rest of the season with the possibility to renew if mutually agreed,» the team said.

«This is a first in Morocco and in the Arab world.»

The Australian had already become the first female head coach at a men's Afrobasket tournament when she led Kenya at the continental championship last summer.

«Excited to announce I'm joining (AS Sale) as the head coach for the upcoming (BAL) season and the (Moroccan) national league,» Mills said on Twitter.

Brigitte Affidehome Tonon was the first female head coach of an African men's national team in 2017 for Benin.

Mills, a Sydney native, had been an assistant at club and national level in Africa for a decade before being hired as Kenya's head coach.

AAP