OUAGADOUGOU (Reuters) – Belgian coach Paul Put has signed a three-year contract to take over as Burkina Faso national team coach, the country’s football federation announced on Saturday.
The 55-year-old, banned in his home country for his involvement in a match-fixing scandal, replaces Paulo Duarte, sacked after African Nations Cup failure earlier in the year.
Put had previously been coach of the Gambia and is also the former coach of Geel, Lokeren, Lierse and Excelsior Moeskroen in Belgium.
At Lierse, he was found to have taken money from a Chinese betting syndicate to influence players to throw the results of Belgian league matches.
He was handed a three-year ban from Belgian football in 2007 by the country’s football association but this was never extended worldwide by FIFA.
Put was the Gambia’s coach from 2008 until late last year.
His first task with Burkina Faso will come in June when they play both Congo and Gabon in 2014 World Cup qualifiers.
