June 8 – One of Africa’s football legends, Nigerian Stephen Keshi, has died suddenly at the age of 54. Keshi is one of only two people to win the Africa Cup of Nations as a player and a coach.
A former captain of Nigeria’s Super Eagles, Keshi went on to have a distinguished career as Nigeria’s coach, though he and his teams were often a victim in the never-ending controversy of Nigerian football politics – including going unpaid for several months prior to the 2014 World Cup.
Keshi’s on-off relationship with the national team saw him installed as coach on three occasions, leading them to the 2013 Nations Cup title in South Africa and the last 16 at the 2014 World Cup. He was awarded CAF coach of the year in 2013.
His contract was not renewed after the Brazil tournament but he returned on a match-by-match deal following the team’s failure to reach the 2015 Nations Cup finals.
He was then sacked as caretaker coach but reinstated after intervention from then Nigeria president Goodluck Jonathan. He was then sacked for a final time last July.
NFF president Amaju Pinnick said his death was “devastating. We have lost a superhero.”
Sunday Oliseh, a former team-mate and Keshi’s successor as Nigeria coach, tweeted his shock at the “horrible news” and called Keshi “an iconic hero”.
A defender, Keshi played 386 senior club games, including 99 for Belgium’s Anderlecht and 62 for France’s RC Strasbourg. He scored 51 goals. At national level he played 64 times for Nigeria scoring 9 goals.
As well as coaching Nigeria, he also coached Mali and between 2004 and 2006 he coached the Togo national football team, surprisingly bringing them to their first World Cup tournament in Germany in 2006.
Keshi is survived by his wife of 33 years and four children.
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