Marc Wilmots has been appointed the new coach of Côte d’Ivoire. The former Belgium coach takes charge of the Elephants after signing a two-year deal with the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) on Tuesday. He succeeds Frenchman Michel Dussuyer, who resigned from the role following Côte d’Ivoire’s exit at the group stage of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations Gabon 2017.

The 48-year-old returns to the coaching ranks following a four-year spell with his native Belgium, where he led the Red Devils to the top of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking for the first time in their history from late 2015 to March 2016. Under Wilmots, Belgium reached the quarter-finals of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ and the last eight of UEFA EURO 2016 before leaving the position last July.

He will now oversee Côte d’Ivoire’s qualification campaign for the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, with the Elephants sitting top of African zone Group C after two rounds of matches. Their next qualifier is away to Gabon on 28 August. Wilmots has also been tasked with qualifying Côte d’Ivoire for the 2019 CAF Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon.