Belgium’s Beerschot name 28-year-old Englishman Still as new head coach

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Belgium’s Beerschot named 28-year-old Englishman Will Still as their new head coach on Tuesday and the top-flight club said he was the youngest in Belgian football since World War Two.

Still replaces Hernan Losada, who left to join DC United in Major League Soccer, and will take charge of his first match on Wednesday against Eupen.

Still, who has coached for 10 years, was previously assistant coach at the club but had been a head coach in the second division at Lierse.

Beerschot won promotion last season to the top flight and were early-season frontrunners but they have tumbled to 10th place after taking two points from their last seven games.

“Hernan asked me to go with him to DC United but my gut feeling was to stay with what is a very good project. It was the right choice, I think,” he told reporters.

Still was born in Belgium to English parents and raised back in Britain where he first worked at Preston North End, coaching juniors.

He returned to Belgium, first as a video analyst at Standard Liege before being promoted to assistant coach at Lierse

“I am sure Will Still will be the perfect successor for Hernan Losada,” Beerschot chairman Francis Vranken told a news conference.

“We are aware of his qualities. He was very important in Beerschot’s development from Division 1B up till now. Our choice to upgrade him is logical. People who work hard for our club get rewarded for that.”

(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Toby Davis)