Who are the African managers at the 2022 World Cup?
Over the years, we have had so many foreign managers take charge of various African teams. For the Super Eagles of Nigeria alone, I can count at least 4 in the last 25 years.
However, for the first time ever, all the African teams that have qualified for the World Cup will be coached or managed by indigenous African managers.
In this article, we highlight these men and how they got to the pinnacle of African football.
1. Otto Addo
Addo is currently the manager of the Black stars team (Ghana). He was in charge of Ghana for that crunch tie with Nigeria that eventually saw Ghana qualify for the World cup. He is 47 years old and was born in Hamburg, Germany to Ghanaian parents. He played for a host of clubs in the German Bundesliga Hannover, Dortmund, Mainz, and Hamburger SV. He began his coaching career in Hamburger SV as a youth coach and assistant manager in 2009.
In 2013, he was appointed as the head scout for the Ghanaian national team. He moved to Dortmund in 2019 and started working as a talent coach before he was appointed as assistant coach to first-team manager Edin Terzic. In 2021, he was appointed as one of the two assistants to the new Ghanaian national team coach. In February 2022, he was appointed as the interim coach of the national team.
2. Rigobert Song
He is the current manager of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon. He was also a Cameroon football legend in all sense of the word “legend”. He is 46 years old and he was born in Cameroon. He played in 4 world cup tournaments and 8 AFCON tournaments for Cameroon. He won two AFCON titles with Cameroon also. He also played for many top European clubs like Liverpool, Galatasary, Westham United, and Koln.
In 2016, He was appointed manager of the Cameroon A’ team (which was filled with home-based players).
In 2018, he was made the caretaker manager of the national team and when a permanent manager was found, he was appointed manager of the U-23 team.
In February 2022, He was appointed as the new manager of the national team.
3. Walid Regragui
He is currently the manager of the Moroccan national football team. Although he was born in France, he represented the Moroccan national team when he was an active footballer. He also played for a couple of teams in France and Spain like Ajaccio, Toulouse, and Racing Santander.
He started his managerial career as an assistant coach to the Moroccan national team manager in 2012. He became the coach of Fath Union sport in 2014 and he left the club by mutual consent in 2020. He was appointed as manager of Wydad AC in 2021 and in May 2022, he won the CAF Champions league with them. He was appointed as the new head coach of the Moroccan national team in August 2022.
4. Jalel Kadri
He is currently the head coach of the Tunisian national team. He is 50 years old and he was born in Tunisia. He started his coaching career in 2001 and he managed a host of Tunisian clubs till 2007 when he was appointed the coach of the Tunisian U-20 national team.
He was back to managing clubs in 2009 until he became the assistant head coach of the Tunisian national team in 2013 and 2021. He was appointed head coach of the Tunisian national team on the 3-0th of January 2022.
5. Aliou Cisse
He is currently the manager of the Terenga Lions (The Senegalese national team). He is 47 years old and he was born in Senegal. Cisse also played football and he began his career in France before moving to England later on in his career. He was the first Senegalese captain to lead his team to the AFCON final in 2002.
Cisse hasn’t coached any club before and his managerial career started with the Senegal U-23 side where he was the assistant coach from 2012-2013 and he became head coach from 2013-2015. He was appointed the head coach of the Senegal national team in 2015 and since then he has transformed Senegalese football. He recently just won the AFCON title with the team after losing out on penalties in the final of the previous edition.
#Sport is a segment that keeps you abreast of everything happening in the world of sport, shares facts, and sometimes also takes you down memory lane to relive some unforgettable sporting moments. In this edition, we are looking at all the African managers at the 2022 FIFA World cup.
