Rachid Meziane at the head of the Belgian Cats: “An opportunity that cannot be refused”

Former assistant of Valerie Garnier in the French team and then of Valery Demory in the Belgian selection, Rachid Meziane (42 years old) will now take over the Belgium team. A “logical continuation” for the coach of Villeneuve d’Ascq.

Rachid Meziane will now wear a double hat: that of coach of Villeneuve d’Ascq and coach of the Belgian Cats. A challenge that does not scare the former assistant of the French women’s team from 2014 to 2021, who already has eight years of international experience.

“It was part of my career objectives, it is an opportunity that cannot be refused. I was assistant of a training center and then manager, assistant of a women’s league team and then coach, and since 2014 I was assistant of a national team. There is a kind of logical continuation. The door opened, I seized the opportunity but I wanted to make everything clear. I discussed it with Valery Demory (former coach) and he encouraged me to go for it. I didn’t give anyone a hard time,” he said in the columns of La Voix du Nord.

His first objective will be to qualify Belgium for EuroBasket 2023 with two games at the end of the month against Northern Macedonia (November 24) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (November 27). A last opponent who beat them by 6 points in November 2021 and against which a new slip-up could put the Belgian Cats in danger.

Photo : Rachid Meziane (FIBA)