Al Hilal coach Florent Ibenge denied rumors linking him with a move to Rwanda Premier League giants APR FC.

The defending league champions have been without a head coach since the departure of Moroccan Adil Erradi Mohammed in October and are reportedly looking for a replacement with Ben Moussa currently acting at the club in an interim role.

Local media reports indicated that the club held talks with Ibenge in an attempt to appoint him as their new head coach but the Congolese said that no one has contacted him about the deal while he says he is very happy with his current club in Sudan.

"I was really surprised. I didn’t talk with anyone from APR FC. That’s fake news. I’m happy with life at Al-Hilal. I still have three years on my contract," Ibenge told Kigali-based sports radio B&B FM Umwezi.

"But I’m a coach... we never know what the future holds for us,” he added

On the other hand, the army side also described the reports as ‘fake’ and maintains that no approach was made to the coach.

"We would like to tell APR F.C fans and Rwandans in general to ignore all the rumors about the team, and continue to only trust the information shared by the club authorities," an official press release published on the club website on Wednesday, December 28, reads in part.

"It is important that any information about APR F.C should come from its spokesperson or the management,” the statement further indicates.

The defending league champions finished the first round of the 2022/23 season sitting third on the table with 28 points, two points adrift of league leaders AS Kigali and second-placed Kiyovu SC who are separated by goal difference.