Serbian tactician Dusan Duje Suljagic has been appointed APR head coach with Vincent Mashami as his assistant.

The new appointment was confirmed by APR’s Secretary General Adolphe Camarade Kalisa during a press conference at the club’s headquarters yesterday.

"We held a top management meeting on Monday and decided that Dusan will be the interim head coach until the end of his one-year contract and then we shall see whether to extend it based on his performance,” Kalisa said.

Suljagic was the assistant to Ljubomir Petrovic who resigned in January. He is an experienced coach having coached several development sides in Serbia.

Kalisa noted that Suljagic has coached U-17, U-20 and U-23 teams in Serbia, a country that has produced very good footballers as well as coaches worldwide and in Africa.

When Suljagic first arrived in Rwanda, he helped us with setting up our academy and advised us on what we could have missed. He also has the UEFA Pro Licence certificate, the highest qualification for any coach,” Kalisa added.

Meanwhile, Kalisa has reassured fans to not read much into the club’s recent dip in form that has seen them go five games without a win.

APR’s last victory was a 4-0 triumph against archrivals Rayon Sports in the National Football League but have since drawn 2-2 with Police FC, were held to a goalless draw by second placed AS Kigali, lost 2-0 to Al Ahly in the Caf Champions League before losing 1-0 to Espoir and drawing 1-1 against Mukura over the weekend.

"There is no single team in the world of football that plays at the same tempo throughout the season. At a certain point, results like this happen but we are investigating the problem which could be fatigue. The majority of our players have never taken a month off since the 2011 Fifa U-17 World Cup in Mexico.

They play for the senior national team, the U-23, U-20 and also for APR.  All year round, they are playing matches but this is a problem we have to solve with the technical staff who have to rotate players because we have a big squad,” added Kalisa.

Ten members of the current 26-man Amavubi squad preparing for the international friendly against Zambia on March 29 feature for APR at club level. 

editorial@newtimes.co.rw