Stielike signs three-year deal with Swiss club Sion

AFP - 31 May 2008 19:00

Former Ivory Coast coach Ulrich Stielike, seen here in 2007, has signed a three-year deal with Swiss first division side Sion, the club announced on Saturday.

GENEVA (AFP) - Former Ivory Coast coach Ulrich Stielike has signed a three-year deal with Swiss first division side Sion, the club announced on Saturday.

Stielike will take over from Italian Alberto Bigon, who last season lead the club to seventh spot in the league.

"The objective is to close the gap on the big teams in the championship," said the 53-year-old, who has been out of the game since March after a short spell as interim coach of Ivory Coast.

Stielike, a former German international, has managed Ivory Coast on two occasions, taking them to the African Nations Cup in Ghana earlier this year.

But he withdrew from his duties during the tournament after the death of his son in January. Ivory Coast went on to finish in fourth place.

Stielike's playing career included spells at Borussia Monchengladbach, Real Madrid and Swiss side Neuchatel Xamax.

He was part of the German side that won Euro 1980 and were runners-up at the 1982 World Cup in Spain.

Sion have twice won the Swiss championship in 1992 and 1997 and the Swiss cup on ten occasions.