Dutchman Haan quits as Cameroon coach after six months

LONDON, Feb 2 (Reuters) Cameroon coach Arie Haan resigned today over what he described as a difference of interpretation in the terms of his contract.

The 58-year-old Dutchman has left after just six months and two matches in charge of the African side.

He told Reuters that the Cameroon Football Federation were insisting he be based in Yaounde but that he felt his job would be better served living in Europe, where almost all of the current Cameroon international squad is based.

''It is ridculous that I would have to live in Cameroon while all my players are in Euroope,'' said Haan, whose two matches in charge saw Cameroon beat Rwanda 3-0 and Equatorial Guinea by the same score in their opening African Nations Cup Group Five qualifiers.

''I felt I did a lot in a short time but the officials did not understand the direction,'' he said in a telephone interview from Germany.

''I felt it was better to quit. The organisation has been extremely poor.'' Haan also criticised the arrangements for next week's friendly against Togo in Lome.

He said the plan for the players to assemble in Paris on Tuesday then fly to the west African country for the match taking place the following day were ''ridiculous.'' ''That's not the way to run a football team,'' he said.

Haan, who was in the Netherlands teams that lost both the 1974 and 1978 World Cup finals, has coached around the world including a two-year spell with China's national team.

He signed a two-year-deal with Cameroon last August.

REUTERS PDM VV2200