José Antonio Camacho dismissed as Gabon coach

Spanish coach José Antonio Camacho has been dismissed as the coach of Gabon, the country’s sports minister Alain Claude Billie By-Nze announced on Wednesday.

Camacho’s dismissal comes after the Panthers lost to visiting Zambia 1-0 on Tuesday in an international friendly.

Three days earlier, Gabon draw 1-1 with Burundi in an African Nations Cup qualifier.

With a single point from two matches, the Central Africans are third in the Group C qualifiers having lost the opening game 2-1 away in Mali.

Gabon will play for their survival in mid-October with a double confrontation against South Sudan.

Catastrophic record for Gabon under Camacho

The 63-year-old former Real Madrid left-back was appointed coach of the central African team in November 2016, a few weeks before the kickoff of the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon. At this tournament the Panthers were eliminated in the group stage.

Despite arriving to Africa with an impressive curriculum having previously coached the Spanish national team as well as high profile clubs like Real Madrid and Sevilla, the Gabon job turned out to be an extremely complicated one for the Camacho.

After two years, the Spaniard’s record is catastrophic, with two wins against seven defeats and eight draws and nine goals scored against 16 conceded in 17 official matches.

It remains to be seen who will succeed the former Real Madrid defender as head coach of Gabon for the next competitive matches in mid-October.