For the first time in FIFA world cup history, all 5 coaches of the African countries in the world cup tournament are Natives of the respective nation. The coaches of the 5 African countries that qualified in the Qatar 2022 World Cup are all from their respective countries. The Afcon champions Senegal and Cameroon, Morocco, Tunisia, and Ghana are the five countries tasked with uniting Africa for one goal at the Qatar 2022 world championship.
Below are the Five African Coaches in Qatar 2022
Ahead of the Qatar 2022 competition which begins Sunday, here is ahighlight of the five men that would be on the frontline for Africa’s representatives
Aliou Cisse of Senegal
The leader of the renowned Lions of Teranga team from 2002, which astonished the world in their debut World Cup, will make a third appearance on the international arena. It will be Cisse’s second time serving in that capacity.
Cisse is a member of a new generation of former national team players who are now trusted with guiding their nations to international success.
46 year old Aliou Cisse, wants to atone for an agonising exit from the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where Senegal lost out on a second-round place only because they accumulated more yellow cards than Japan.
In 2002, he became the first Senegalese captain to captain his team to the Africa Cup of Nations final, and in 2022, he became the first Senegalese manager to win the competition. For Cisse and his team, the possibilities are endless especially in Qatar 2022.
Jalal Kadri Of Tunisia
When Kadri coached the Under-20s in 2007, it was his first time working with the Carthage Eagles at the young level.
He was summoned back in June 2021 to help the team’s head coach at the time, Mondher Kebaier, after stints with many clubs in Tunisia and Saudi Arabia.
The enormity of the task facing Jalel Kadri was laid bare a month ago in Paris when record five-time world champions Brazil trounced Tunisia 5-1 in a warm-up match. “We know France is of the same quality as Brazil,” said the 50-year-old, with Denmark and Australia their other group rivals. “The World Cup draw has placed Tunisia in a very difficult section.”
When Kebaier signed a contract with Covid-19, he was elevated to the position of squad manager and led the group at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations. Good luck to Jalal and his team in Qatar 2022.
Otto Addo of Ghana
Even though he was born in Hamburg, Addo opted down the chance to play for Germany in the late 1990s in favor of the Black Stars.
47 year old Addo joined Ghana in February of last year as an assistant coach after serving in various technical capacities in the Borussia Dortmund and Schalke camps. He will now serve as the team’s captain in Qatar 2022 in the absence of Milovan Rajevac.
Former Ghana World Cup midfielder Otto Addo, who had never been a head coach, faced a baptism of fire as the Black Stars’ boss last February, inheriting a demoralised squad after a stunning loss to the Comoros condemned the four-time African champions to a first-round exit from the 2021 Cup of Nations.
Walid Regragui of Morocco
Before transitioning to management, the 47-year-old coach played for a significant portion of his playing career in the top divisions of France and Spain from the late 1990s to the early 2000s.
His first significant coaching position was as Rachid Taoussi’s assistant coach for Morocco in 2012, but he will now guide a “Golden Generation” to what is anticipated to be a record-breaking World Cup run in Qatar 2022.
Walid Regragui, has had little time to prepare the Atlas Lions having replaced Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic on the last day of August this year. Born in Paris, he played right-back for a number of French clubs and one in Spain and was capped 45 times by Morocco, the home of his parents.
Rigobert Song Of Cameroon
The 46 year old former Indomitable Lion first gained notoriety with the national team’s youth squad before earning 137 senior caps over four World Cups.
A centre-back, his club career spanned France, Italy, England, Germany and Turkey, including spells at Liverpool and West Ham United. Called the ‘Big Chief’, he suffered a stroke in 2016 and was in a coma for several days.
Rigobert Song played at his first World Cup in the United States when he was 17 years old. He later took part in three more tournaments in 1998, 2002, and 2010. He joins a distinguished club of Cameroonians that includes Jacques Songo’o and Samuel Eto’o, who have graced the game’s premier event four times each.
Since that time, he has made the transition to management and will lead the talented Cameroon team to Qatar 2022, his first World Cup as a coach.
