Emerse Fae Joins African Cup Of Nations Winning Coaches

TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Cote d’Ivoire 2023 winning coach, Emerse Fae is the latest addition to the ever-growing list of African tacticians that have orchestrated a continental title.

The 34th edition of Africa’s most prestigious competition concluded on Sunday, 11 February with a classic African tie between tournament hosts, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria which saw the hosts lift their third continental title, courtesy of a comeback 2-1 victory in Ebimpe.

The historic feat came under the astute guidance of 40-year-old, Emerse Fae who took over the reins from Jean-Louis Gasset after the team received a lifeline from finishing as one of the third-best-placed teams in the group stages, to emphatically march to a pole finish.

Since the competition’s inaugural edition in 1957, Eleven (11) African coaches have now officially lifted the title, with the list expected to grow over the upcoming editions, as young African tacticians – both men and women, continue to emerge from all corners of the continent.

The TotalEnergies CAF AFCON was first lifted by Mourad Fahmy of Egypt and was followed by Charles Gyamfi (Ghana), who jointly holds the record of the most TotalEnergies CAF AFCON titles (3) with Hassan Shehata of Egypt.

Of the seven titles held by Egypt, five were achieved under the auspices of a local coach, while two of the Elephants’ three titles are shared by Ivorians in Martial Yeo (1992) and quite recently, Fae.

Abdelhamid Kermali was the first coach to guide Algeria to continental success in 1990, while Djamel Belmadi, who was born in France but later represented the Desert Foxes between 2000 – 2004 before ascending to Algeria’s highest coaching seat gave Algeria their second title in 2019.

Other notable African coaches that have guided their respective nations to glory include Fred Osam Doudu (Ghana), Abdelhamid Kermali (Algeria), Clive Barker (South Africa), Mohamed Al Gohari (Egypt), Stephen Keshi (Nigeria) and Aliou Cisse (Senegal).

Also interesting to note is that current TotalEnergies CAF Africa Women’s Cup of Nations champions, South Africa are coached by their former captain, Desiree Ellis.

African coaches to win the TotalEnergies CAF AFCON title:

1957 – Mourad Fahmy (Egypt)

1963 – Charles Gyamfi (Ghana)

1965 – Charles Gyamfi (Ghana)

1978 – Fred Osam Doudu (Ghana)

1982 – Charles Gyamfi (Ghana)

1990 – Abdelhamid Kermali (Algeria)

1992 – Martial Yeo (Cote d’Ivoire)

1996 – Clive Barker (South Africa)

1998 – Mohamed Al Gohari (Egypt)

2006 – Hassan Shehata (Egypt)

2008 – Hassan Shehata (Egypt)

2010 – Hassan Shehata (Egypt)

2013 – Stephen Keshi (Nigeria)

2019 – Djamel Belmadi (Algeria)

2021 – Aliou Cisse (Senegal)

2023 – Emerse Fae (Cote d’Ivoire)

From Sammy Heywood Okine