Le Guen is Oman's new football coach

Oman Football Association (OFA) announced on Saturday that former French international Paul Le Guen will be the new national team coach on a two-year contract.

Le Guen has been a free agent since resigning from the position of head coach with Cameroon in June 2010. He guided the African side to the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, where it was knocked out in the group stages.

“This is a very important decision for Oman football and for the OFA,” Sayyid Khalid al Busaidy, OFA chairman, told Muscat Daily. “There's been a lot of speculation going on for a long time over the appointment of the national team coach. We have taken a decision and we are very happy with it. It took us some time, but we wanted to select the right candidate, which we did.”

The national team coach's position has been vacant since January, when Claude Le Roy was fired following a disappointing Gulf Cup campaign.

The decision to appoint Le Guen was taken following a meeting of the OFA board on Saturday afternoon. Muscat Daily had reported on June 6 that Le Guen was interviewed by the OFA.

The 47 year old Le Guen will handpick his own support staff before officially taking charge of the team for a training camp on June 27. His first competitive game as coach will be against the winner of the Myanmar versus Mongolia match in a World Cup qualifier on July 23.

Sayyid Khalid said, “The decision was taken after careful deliberation and thinking, after we took all aspects into consideration. We needed someone who understood our objectives.”

Ahmed al Habsi, senior OFA board member, hailed the decision, adding that the new coach is young and will fit into the role perfectly. Le Guen won 17 caps as a defender for France before stepping into management in 1998 with Stade Rennais. His most successful spell as a coach came with Lyon, where he won the French League title for three successive seasons from 2002 to 2005. He also led the team to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

He has also managed Scottish club Rangers and Paris Saint-Germain, where he won the French Cup in 2008.