Eric Descombes (born 25 June 1971) is an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

manager and former player. Born in

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

, he was naturalized by Mauritania and participated with the Mauritanian national team in the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

qualifiers for Germany 2006. He spent his career between Europe and the United States, playing with clubs such as Chico Rooks,

Cascade Surge Cascade Surge was an American association football, soccer team based in Salem, Oregon, United States. Founded in 1995, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2009, when ...

, Sacramento Scorpions,

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England, which competes in the National League, the fifth level of English football. The team are known as "The Shrimpers", a reference ...

New Orleans Storm The New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers was an American soccer club that competed in the USISL from 1993 to 1999. Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, New Orleans, Louisiana, the club was renamed the New Orleans Storm in 1998. The team folded after the 19 ...

Cincinnati Riverhawks The Cincinnati Riverhawks were a professional soccer team that debuted in the USISL Premier Development League in 1997 and joined the A-League from 1998 to 2003. They played their games at Galbreath Field in Kings Mills, Ohio, and later at the ...

and

Indiana Blast Indiana Blast was an American soccer team, founded in 1996. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues, played in the USISL and A-League (1997–2004) until folding at the end of the 2004 season. The Blast played their home games at Ku ...

. He capped twice for the Mauritanian national team and played in 169 games at the professional level, scoring 16 times. Descombes started his professional coaching career in the A-League with the Cincinnati Riverhawks as a player-assistant coach and with the Indiana Blast as a head coach. He was the head coach and GM with

Africa Sports d'Abidjan Africa Sports d'Abidjan is a multi-sports club based in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. History The club was founded in 1947. Sports The club contains teams in the sports of track and field, handball, basketball, and association football. Of these, the ...

in Ivory Coast (2012/2013 season). He was named as the new national team coach and technical director of the Central African Republic, shortly after. The team participated in the CEMAC Cup in December 2013, while the civil war just had started. He led the team to a final appearance, after defeating Chad (1–0), Congo (1-0), and Cameroon (1-0), but falling to host country Gabon (0–2) in the final. In January 2017, Descombes was named as the Director of Football with FC Mulhouse in France, overseeing the club's entire sport side, from the youth academy to the first team. In July 2018 he was named as the club's new manager. In his first season at the helm, he won the league championship and promotion to the next division, and a coach of the year accolade. Eric Descombes was appointed in May 2023 by SC Bastia of France's Ligue 2 as the new technical/academy director in charge of revamping the youth academy and restructuring its organization. .

References

1971 births Living people Footballers from Yaoundé Cameroonian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Canon Yaoundé players Diamant Yaoundé players Chico Rooks players Cascade Surge players Sacramento Scorpions players Southend United F.C. players New Orleans Storm players Cincinnati Riverhawks players Indiana Blast players USISL players A-League (1995–2004) players Cameroonian expatriate men's footballers Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Cameroonian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Cameroonian football managers Player-coaches Central African Republic national football team managers Cameroonian expatriate football managers Expatriate soccer coaches in the United States Expatriate football managers in Ivory Coast Expatriate football managers in the Central African Republic Cameroonian people of French descent Naturalized citizens of France French men's footballers Olympique Lyonnais players Toulouse FC players French football managers FC Mulhouse managers French expatriate football managers French sportspeople of Cameroonian descent Naturalized citizens of Mauritania Mauritania men's international footballers Mauritanian men's footballers USL Second Division players USL First Division players National Premier Soccer League coaches {{Mauritania-footy-bio-stub