The caretaker committee appointed by the Seychelles Football Federation (SFF) for the men's national team has completed its two-game mandate and now a permanent head coach is being sought.
The caretaker committee, headed by coach Ralph Jean-Louis, was responsible for the two 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Ivory Coast and Kenya.
Seychelles lost both games, 9-0 to Ivory Coast and 5-0 against Kenya, but Jean-Louis told reporters in a press conference on Wednesday that there has been progression within the team despite two heavy losses.
"We had set a few targets for the team and in the second game we saw that the team met most of these targets, except for scoring a goal," said Jean-Louis, who added that the performances show that there has been an improvement.
He added that the SFF's executive committee received a report from the committee on the two games and it was agreed to extend an invitation to local coaches who possess License 'A' requirements to apply for the position of head coach.
"For now though, we will remain with the national team setup until a new permanent appointment is made," said Jean-Louis.
The focus is on getting a Seychellois to coach for the team supported by a group of foreign coaches who specialises in various aspects of coaching, such as fitness and goalkeeping, among others.
For Jean-Louis, this was his fourth spell with the national side, and he did not confirm whether he would be open to applying for the full-time job but did say that he will think about it.
For the last two matches, the national team has been working with numerous new training methods and technologies.
Jean-Louis explained that even when a new coach is appointed, these methods will likely remain, but it will however, ultimately depend on the coach to use whichever approach he chooses.
Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, had for the first time, used trackers attached to every player, to measure various parameters of their performance. The team also had the help of French fitness coach Eric Pascholski and goalkeeper coach Riffi Mandanda for the two FIFA World Cup qualifying matches.
