Profile: Who is Sébastien Desabre, Uganda’s new national team coach?

Frenchman Sebastien Desabre was on Thursday afternoon unveiled as the new coach for Uganda’s national team, the Cranes at a function held at FUFA house in Mengo.

The function was presided over by the FUFA CEO Edgar Watson who described Desabre as the perfect replacement to take over the Ugandan national team coach  job.

“When we opened up the process for applying for the national team coach, we received 92 applications and five of these were local coaches and we are happy to announce the French international as the coach after signing a three year contract,” Watson said.

He also revealed that the coach will also supervise the U23 and U20 national football teams.

“He will help local coaches develop philosophy as well as develop the game of football in Uganda.”

Desabre will replace Serbian ‘wolf’ Micho Milutin Sredejovic who terminated his contract in July 2017 over unpaid wages before joining South African premier league giants Orlando Pirates as head coach.

Ambition

Speaking shortly after being unveiled, the 41 year old who speaks with a French accent prized himself of having a vast experience in African football, having coached for eight years on the continent.

“I was in Egypt whose league I consider the best and most difficult. I have worked under  pressure at club level and coaching a national team has been my ambition,”Desabre said.

“It is now my objective to take charge of a national team and have success with it.”

FUFA has  also appointed Matia Lule as Desabre’s assistant whereas Fred Kajoba retains his role as the goalkeeping coach for the Uganda national team, the Cranes.

The Frenchman’s   first task will be to lead Uganda Cranes at the 2018 Total Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) which runs  from January 13th to February 4th in Morocco.

Uganda will play alongside Zambia, Namibia and Ivory Coast in Group B.

Profile

Born on August 2, 1976 at Valence, France, Desabre has a rich football coaching background that dates back as far as 2004 as an assistant coach at French side ESC Rocheville  to 2006 when he was elevated to full coach.

In 2010, Desabre joined Ivory Coast giants ASEC Mimosas up to 2012 when he joined Cameroon top flight club, Cotton Sport Garoua.

He has also steered the wheels for top flight clubs in Tunisia, Angola, United Arab Emirates , Morocco and Egypt  where he coached current national league leaders  Ismaily.

Desabre has been at the helm of Ismaily for one year and his last match was on Wednesday when his team beat El Raja in the domestic league before resigning his position.

His adventure in a number of countries has enabled the forty one year old Desabre become linguist as he can speak French, Arabic and English.