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Kolo Toure hired as assistant coach with Ivory Coast

Kolo Toure has been appointed as an assistant coach to the Ivory Coast national team.

The former Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester City defender will work under former Belgium coach Marc Wilmots, the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) announced on Thursday.

The posting comes soon after the 36-year-old, who hung up his boots in the summer, took up a role on the backroom staff of his last club Celtic.

Ivory Coast, with whom Toure won the African Nations Cup as a player in 2015, face Mali in their next World Cup qualifier on Friday.

A statement from the FIF read: "He will take on the role of coach Marc Wilmots' assistant from the Mali-Cote d'Ivoire match of October 6, 2017."

Toure's bother Yaya, the Manchester City midfielder, tweeted: "Very happy to see my big bro Kolo is Cote d'Ivoire assistant coach. Excellent."