French coach Sebastien Desabre, who turned around the fortunes of Ismaily following his summer arrival, stepped down from his post to take charge of Uganda, the Egyptian Premier League leaders said late on Wednesday.

Ismaily said in a statement that they failed in their attempts to coax Desabre into staying, a few hours after the team hammered Ragaa 5-0 to go seven points clear on top of the table after 16 games.

“The coach has informed the board of directors after the Ragaa match of his desire to end his contract with the club, saying he had an offer from Uganda that he can’t turn it down,” Ismaily said in a statement.

“The board of directors convened … and tried to convince him to change his mind but he insisted (to leave).

“The board would like to assure the club’s fans that it will find a solution to this without affecting the team at this stage.”

Desabre has molded Ismaily into a solid and compact team since his arrival in July, with the club making an impressive start to the season as they chase a fourth league title and their first since 2002.

He won trophies with Recreativo do Libolo in Angola, Esperance in Tunisia, Asec in Ivory Coast and Wydad in Morocco.

He left Wydad Casablanca in January 2017 after leading them to the Champions League semi-final before taking charge of Ismaily.

Uganda failed to reach the 2018 World Cup after finishing second in their qualifying group with 9 points, four behind Egypt who made it to the Russia finals for the first time since 1990.

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