Zamalek announced early on Tuesday that it is assigning French coach Patrice Carteron to lead the team after terminating the contract of Serbian coach Milutin Micho Sredojevic by mutual consent.
Carteron, who is scheduled to arrive in Cairo today, will be assisted by former club players Samy El-Sheshiny and Amir Abdel-Aziz, according to Zamalek s official website, which did not reveal further details about the Frenchman s contract with the Whites.
This will be Carteron s third time in Egypt, as he led Wadi Degla in 2016 and Ahly in 2018. He will be the fourth coach to have led both Cairo giants Ahly and Zamalek.
Under the helm of the 49-year-old Carteron, Ahly reached the final of the Confederation of African Football Champions League, but lost against Tunisia s Esperance, which led the Reds to sack him.
He managed to win the CAF Champions League with Congo s TP Mazembe in the 2014-2015 season, and won with the latest club he had led, Raja of Morocco, in the CAF Super Cup 2018-2019.
After less than four months, Zamalek terminated Micho s contract on Monday, following a string of poor results including a 3-0 away defeat to TP Mazembe in the African Champions League last weekend.
The 50-year-old tactician, who took charge of Zamalek in August 2019, had a brilliant debut of his tenure with a blistering 6-0 victory against Somalia s Dekedaha in the preliminary round of Africa s elite club competition.
He went on to claim his first title with the club in less than a month after beating Pyramids FC in Egypt s Cup final.
Zamalek s season has gone downhill since they lost the Super Cup title to Ahly 3-2.
The team struggled in the league to slip to fourth after being held 1-1 by newly promoted side FC Masr and conceding a stunning 2-1 defeat by bottom side Enppi.
The pressure has been mounting on the former Uganda and Rwanda coach who saw his tactics questioned by the fans and media following his numerous changes to the lineups and schemes.
Micho used 27 players over the course of 13 games winning eight times, drawing once and conceding four defeats.
Caretron s first challenge with Zamalek is expected to be when they host Primero Agosto of Angola on Saturday in the second group stage game of the African Champions League ahead of a busy December schedule.
The Whites seem at a crossroads now as the club is also facing a financial crisis that pushed Tunisian full back Hamdi Nagguez towards the exit door as he decided to unilaterally terminate his contract over unpaid dues.
Reports have revealed that other players have requested a meeting with officials to discuss the crisis.
Zamalek currently lie fifth on the Egyptian Premier League table with 10 points from five matches, while champions Ahly come second with 12 points from four matches.
