DOHA: Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, President of the Qatar Football Association (QFA), has returned after attending the funeral of Frenchman Bruno Metsu, the popular coach who passed away on Tuesday.
Metsu, former coach of the Qatar national teal team and manager of Qatar Stars League (QSL) Al Gharafa over two phases, succumbed to colon cancer last week.
“We will never forget what a loyal coach he was to Qatar, both our clubs and country,” Sheikh Hamad was quoted a saying in a post on www.qsl.com.qa.
“Football has lost a great man and he will be sorely missed,” he added. “He was a quality coach.”
The widow of Metsu, Viviane Metsu, her children and scores of relatives were in attendance at the Stade des Frandres in Dunkirk, northern France, where the funeral ceremony was held on Friday.
Metsu, best known for leading Senegal into the quarter-finals of the 2002 World Cup, was hugely popular in the Middle East.
From 1988 onwards, he was the manager of a total of nine French and Gulf clubs.
In his senior playing career from 1973 to 1987, he played for seven different clubs in his native France. THE PENINSULA
