DR Congo giants, TP Mazembe appoints Mihayo as coach

epa05609108 Mouloudia Olympique Bejaia player Soumaila Sidebe (L) and TP Mazembe player Roger Claver Assale (R) fight for the ball during the Final first leg CAF Confederation Cup soccer match between Mouloudia olympique Bejaia of Algeria and TP Mazembe of Congo in Blida km south of Algiers, Algeria, 29 October 2016. The second leg is scheduled for 6 November in Lubumbashi. EPA/STR

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Thursday Apr 20, 2017. 11:30

TP Mazembe have decided to hand coach Pamphile Mihayo Kazembe a long term contract at the club as they hope to find stability.

The Ravens have reportedly appointed Mihayo to replace axed coach Hubert Velud as he left the club last year.

However, reports suggest that Mihayo has been roped in as acting head coach of the five-times African champions since the end of last season when Velud ditched them.

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The former Mazembe skipper recently worked under another French gaffer Thierry Froger, who was shown the door less than two months into his two-year contract last month.

Froger failed to qualify the Ravens to this year’s CAF Champions League group phase as they lost out to little known Zimbabwean outfit CAPS on 1-1 aggregate.

Mihayo, who won the CAF Champions League twice with Mazembe in 2009 and 2010, picked up the squad after the huge setback and managed to see them through to the 2017 CAF Confederations Cup last 16.

The Lubumashi-based giants defeated Algeria's JS Kabylie 2-0 aggregate in the play-offs to book a place in the group stage of the second tier continental club championship, where they are the defending champions.