Doha: Tunisia head coach Nabil Maaloul has stepped down from his role with the national team to join Al Duhail as their new manager, the Qatari club has said.

The 55-year-old rejoined the north African side last April and helped the team qualify for this year’s World Cup in Russia, with Tunisia winning one of their three group games to finish third in Group G, behind Belgium and England.

“The club’s management contracted with the Tunisian coach Nabil Maaloul to be the new technical manager of the first football team ...” Al Duhail said on their website.

“Coach Nabil Maaloul will arrive to Austria in the upcoming hours to join the team’s camp which is held in Austria these days.” Maaloul, who has prior coaching experience in Qatar with El Jaish, will take the reins of Al Duhail from Djamel Belmadi, who left the club for “special reasons” and is widely expected to be named as the Algerian national team’s new manager.