BELGIAN billionaire Charlton Athletic owner Roland Duchatelet has appointed a new Belgian-born head coach following the sacking of Chris Powell.

News from The Valley this afternoon is that former Standard Liege boss Jose Riga has been appointed, and will take charge of his first game on Wednesday night as the Addicks take on Huddersfield Town at home.

Duchatelet, who took over the club earlier this year, showed Powell the door last night after their relationship broke down with the club fighting for survival at the bottom of the Championship and being dumped out of the FA Cup by Sheffield United at the weekend.

The former England international, who had a three-year spell in charge, had seen talks over a contract extension stall in recent weeks.

He led the Addicks to the League One title in 2011-12 But the loss at Bramall Lane has seen the club abandon the manager who enjoyed three distinguished spells as a player at The Valley.

However, despite the team's poor form, Powell has retained the support of fans who blame a lack of financial backing for the Addicks' failure to progress.

New man Riga took Liege to the last 16 of the Europa League in the 2011/12 season.

Earlier in his career, he won the second division with RAEC Mons for the first time in the club’s history, in his first year in charge.

More recently, he has been technical director at Cercle Sportif Vise in Belgium and worked at the Aspire Academy in Qatar.

Karel Fraeye has joined as assistant head coach to work alongside him.