Herve Renard resigned from his duty as manager of Ivory Coast on Friday (22/5) and he had been expected to join the Ligue 1 club. Lille has made it clear that Renard will take over at the club from Rene Girard who is leaving by mutual consent after two seasons in charge of the Ligue 1 side.

Public find the decision taken by Ligue 1 side will bring good thing to the club as Renard had successfully led Ivory Coast to Africa’s showpiece football title in February 2015 and three years previously also famously guided Zambia to the same title.

He ended the contract with Ivory Coast national tem to enable him return to Ligue 1. Appointed by Ivory Coast in July last year, he ended the West African national’s long title drought by winning African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea. Renard is the only coach to win the African title with two different countries.

The 46-years-old manager told the club’s official website that it is such a honor for him to arrive at a club as prestigious as Lille. “I said to myself after the Cup of Nations success it would be hard to do better and I would need other challenges. A very exciting challenge is on the horizon and I’m counting on rising to it with ambition,” he continued.

The new coach is expected to sign a three-year deal with the club which finished eighth in this campaign’s French top tier. Lille’s poor finish means that the club will not join European football competition in the next season. Previously in the last season, Girard having led them to a third-place finish in Ligue 1 2013/2014 campaign.

Renard has worked previously France top tier, coaching Sochaux during the 2013-2014 season as they unsuccessfully battled to avoid relegation threat to Ligue 2. Renard has already started work on his new team and requesting that captain Rio Mavuba’s contract be extended.