BAMAKO (Reuters) - Frenchman Alain Giresse has been appointed for a second stint as Mali coach and will sign a two-year contract on Thursday, the country's football federation said.
The former France international was coach of the west African country from 2010 to 2012, taking them to a third-place finish at the 2012 African Nations Cup finals but quit soon after when he rejected new contract terms.
He replaces another former World Cup player, Poland's Henryk Kasperczak who parted ways after Mali failed to get past the first round at this year's Nations Cup finals in Equatorial Guinea following a drawing of lots.
Giresse, 62, had been Senegal coach for the last two years but his contract was also not renewed after they surprisingly failed to get out of their group at the Nations Cup.
He has also had spells at Toulouse and Paris St Germain in Ligue 1 and overseas coaching assignments at Royal Armed Forces of Morocco and with the national teams of Gabon and Georgia.
As a diminutive midfield dynamo in his playing days, he played at the World Cup and was a member of France's European Championship-winning side in 1984.
(This version of the story has been refiled to correct typo in the headline)