AFCON 2023: African coaches have a chance to draw level with the 'White Wizards'
African coaches have won 16 AFCON titles. If one of their own wins the 34th edition, they will draw level with the White Wizards.
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Walid Regragui, Kaba Diawara, or even Eric Chelle... which African coach will win AFCON 2023, given that they say good things come in threes? The two previous winners, Aliou Cissé (2021) and Djamel Belmadi (2019), are indeed Africans. They also appear to have inspired several other African federations, as 14 African coaches will be on the starting grid in Côte d'Ivoire. If a son of the continent wins this 34th edition, it would be the 17th title claimed by an African coach, leaving them exactly level with the 'White Wizards'.
Twelve local coaches have put their names on the roll of honour, for 16 trophies won. Ghana's Charles Gyamfi and Egypt's Hassan Shehata have won three each, and they hold the competition record. Gyamfi gave the Black Stars their first star in 1963. He then successfully defended the title in 1965 in Tunis, before returning to win it for a 3rd time in 1982. Shehata, for his part, won three consecutive titles with his country, Egypt (2006, 2008, 2010).
List of African coaches who have won AFCON
1957 Mourad Fahmy (Egypt, 1957), Charles Gyamfi (Ghana, 1963, 1965, 1982), Amoyan Bibanzulu (Congo-Kinshasa, 1972), Fred Osam Doudou (Ghana, 1978), Abdelhamid Kermali (Algeria, 1990), Martial Yeo (Côte d'Ivoire, 1992), Clive Barker (South Africa, 1996), Mahmoud Al Gohari (Egypt, 1998), Hassan Shehata (Egypt, 2006, 2008, 2010), Stephen Keshi (Nigeria, 2013), Djamel Belmadi (Algeria, 2019), Aliou Cissé (Senegal, 2021).
List of non-African coaches who have won AFCON
Josef Titkos (Hungary, 1959), Milosevic (Yugoslavia, 1962), Ferenc Csandai (Hungary, 1968), Jiri Starosta (Czechoslovakia, 1970), Blagoje Vidinic (Yugoslavia, 1974), Gheorghe Mardarescu (Romania, 1976), 1980 Otto Gloria (Brazil), Rade Ognanovic (Yugoslavia, 1984), Mike Smith (Wales, 1986), 1988 Claude LeRoy (France), Clemens Westerhof (Netherlands, 1994), Pierre Lechantre (France, 2000), Winfried Schafer (Germany, 2002), Roger Lemerre (France, 2004), Hervé Renard (France, 2012, 2015), Hugo Broos (Belgium, 2017).
The 24 coaches at AFCON 2023
Zambia: Avram Grant (Israel)
Tunisia: Jalel Kadri (Tunisia)
Tanzania: Adel Amrouche (Algeria)
Senegal: Aliou Cissé (Senegal)
DR Congo: Sébastien Desabre (France)
Nigeria: Jose Pereiro (Portugal)
Namibia: Benjamin Collin (Namibia)
Mozambique: Chiquinho Conde (Mozambique)
Mauritania: Amir Abdou (Comoros)
Mali: Eric Chelle (Mali)
Morocco: Walid Regragui (Morocco)
Equatorial Guinea: Juan Micha (Equatorial Guinea)
Guinea-Bissau: Baciro Candé (Guinea-Bissau)
Guinea: Kaba Diawara (Guinea)
Ghana: Chris Hughton (Ireland)
Gambia: Tom Sainfiet (Belgium)
Egypt: Rui Vitoria (Portugal)
Côte d'Ivoire: Jean Louis Gasset (France)
Cape Verde: Bubista (Cape Verde)
Cameroon: Rigobert Song (Cameroon)
Burkina Faso: Hubert Velud (France)
Angola: Pedro Gonçalves (Portugal)
Algeria: Djamel Belmadi (Algeria)
South Africa: Hugo Broos (Belgium)