Raja will be Michel's first African club

The former coach of France, Henri Michel, has been named as the man who will replace sacked Belgian coach Walter Meeuws at Raja Casablanca.

Abdelhamid Souiri, the vice-president of the club who were the Champions League runners-up, announced on Thursday that Michel was expected to take up his new job next week.

His initial contract is due to last until the end of the season.

Raja fired Meeuws, a former coach of Belgium, after a series of poor results in the league.

But he said he knew that after being beaten in the Champions League final by Zamalek of Egypt his days were numbered.

Raja are now only 12th in Morocco�s first division table, and last year lost the championship title after five successive years at the top.

Michel, a former French international midfielder, steered France to third place in the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico.

He knows Morocco well after coaching the national team until 2000 before moving on to the United Arab Emirates and then back to Tunisia for a brief period last year.

He also coached Cameroon at the '94 World Cup.