By Patrice Chitera BBC Sport, Kinshasa

Lomana LuaLua has been dropped by the DR Congo

The DR Congo's football executive has named Christian Sengibiembi as the country's new assistant coach, who will work with a yet to be named coach probably from Europe.

The country's football federation is waiting for the government to approve a financial package to fund a foreign coach.

Sengibiembi was formerly the coach for the under-23 side but lost his job after the DR Congo failed to qualify for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

The authorities have also named fifty-five players from which the squad for their 2006 World Cup and Cup of Nations qualifying matches will be chosen.

Sengibiembi now takes on the task of selecting and coaching a squad for their first 2006 World Cup and Cup of Nations qualifier against Uganda in June.

Only nine Europe-based players have been chosen in the preliminary squad and there is no place for the Portsmouth striker and former captain Lomana LuaLua.

He has been overlooked after his sending off in the Cup of Nations group match against hosts Tunisia.

The Europe-based players on the list include Shabani Nonda of Monaco in France and Zico Tumba of NEC Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

The DR Congo and Uganda are in Group 2 of the 2006 World Cup and Cup of Nations qualifiers along with South Africa, Burkina Faso, Ghana and the Cape Verde Islands.