Fijian fans want Christophe Gamel back in charge of the Bula Boys

Since the Fijian Football Association announced the Danish coach Flemming Serritslev departed from the position of head coach of the Fijian national team, many football fans used the social media to express their oppinions on the Serritslev’s era and what should be the next steps of Fijian football ahead.

The overall evaluation of Serritslev campaign in Fiji was not good for the fans as Fiji could not perform well in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers being knocked-out in the group stage after got beaten by Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.

Arguably, the first name that came to mind of the Fijian fans is the French Christophe Gamel; the 50-year-old is now a free agent coach and could apply for the spot if he is interested. Gamel coached Fiji from 2016 to 2019 and according to many football fans in Fiji, he was one of the best ever coaches for the national team.

Fiji FA expects to announce a new head coach before March, when the national team will have a series of matches against Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Fiji U-20 side that is preparing for the U-20 FIFA World Cup to be held in Indonesia this year.

Gamel, after leaving Fiji national team, worked in Belgium, Algeria and Malaysia. He last coached Sri Pahang, a football club from the Malaysia Super League, club he left at the middle of the last year.

Under Gamel, Fiji played a total of 27 matches: 10 wins, 9 draws and 8 loses. Gamel managed to expose Fiji football as he played several friendly matches against nations from other football confederations; including a 1-0 win against Mauritius in 2019 and a draw away against Indonesia. Gamel also led Fiji to win bronze medal at 2019 Pacific Games after a 14-year-drought of medals in football competition in the games.