Nigerian specialists had never won an official football tournament at the national team level before. In Johannesburg, Stephen Keshi, with the help of his valiant ‘superiors’, corrected this omission. The 51-year-old native of Lagos became the second man in history to win the African Cup as a player and a coach.
Stephen Keshi family
Stephen Keshi’s children
Stephen Keshi was a family man with four children. His children are:
- Stephen Keshi Jnr,
- Ifeyinwa Keshi.
Stephen Keshi’s wife
He had being married to his wife Kate Keshi for 33 years, until she died on December 10, 2015, after a three-year battle with cancer.
Biography of Stephen Keshi
He started his football career in his homeland Nigeria. He played in Nigeria’s championship in clubs ACB Lagos and New Nigeria Bank. Then he went to Cote d’Ivoire, where he played for clubs ‘Stud Abidjan’ and ‘Africa Sport’. He won the national championship and the national cup with the second club, and then he moved to Europe.
The first European club of Steven Keshi was ‘Lokeren’, the second most powerful division of Belgium. The next season, he moved to Anderlecht from the top division, for which he played four seasons. In the ‘Anderlecht’ he became the champion of Belgium in the 1990/91 season. He was a silver medalist twice (1988/89, 1989/90) and won the Belgian Cup twice, in 1988 and 1989. He participated in the matches of Anderlecht in the UEFA Champions League. In 1991-1993 he played two seasons for the French ‘Strasbourg’.
The first season in the second most powerful division, where ‘Strasbourg’ became the winner, and the second season in the top division. Then Keshi returned to Belgium, where he played one season for ‘Molenbek’ in the top division. In 1995-1996, he appeared in the US for semi-professional clubs from California, CCV Hydra, and Sacramento Scorpions. He finished his playing career in Malaysia at the Perlis club (English Perlis FA).
From 1981 to 1995 he was a player of the Nigerian national team, he was also the captain of the team. As a player, he was a five-time participant in the Cup of Africa (1982, 1984, 1988, 1992, 1994). At the 1994 African Cup he was captain of the national team, which became the winner of the tournament.
He was a member of the 1994 World Cup in the United States, the first world championship for which the Nigerian national team made their way. He played for more than 60 official matches for the national team and was included in the list of the top ten players of the national team.
Coaching career
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He began his coaching career in the Football Federation of Nigeria, was the head coach of the Nigerian national youth team at the 2001 African Youth Championship held in Ethiopia. Until 2004 he worked in the coaching staff of the national team of Nigeria.
In April 2004 he headed Togo team. Under the leadership of Keshi, the team that glittered Emmanuel Adebayor, qualified for the 2006 African Cup, this qualification also gave the national team a chance at the World Cup 2006. At the Africa Cup, the team failed, and before the World Championships in Germany, Keshi was replaced by Otto Pfister. However, this castling did not bring the desired results, and in February 2007 Stephen Keshi returned to the post of head coach. The national team did not participate in the next African Cup, and Keshi resigned in March 2008.
In April 2008 he signed a two-year contract with the team of Mali. The team made their way to the Africa Cup 2010, but did not leave the group, after which Keshi left the team.
In March 2011, for a short time, he returned to the Togo team.
In 2011, he led the national team of Nigeria. Under his leadership, Nigeria entered the final tournament of the African Cup 2013. They won the tournament, beating Côte d’Ivoire and Mali in the playoffs, and Burkina Faso in the final.
This victory was the third for Nigeria in the finals of the African Cup, and the second personally for Stephen Keshi, who previously won the tournament in 1994 as a football player. He also became the first Nigerian coach who managed to win the African Cup.
Death
Stephen Keshi children at his burial ceremony in Delta state
Stephen Keshi died in the early hours of Wednesday, June 8, 2016, in Nigeria. His family said he died of cardiac arrest.
All in all, Stephen Keshi was an important figure for the Nigerian football. His tactics are still used by the best European coaches nowadays. His African Cup in 2013 still lives in the hearts of all Nigerian football fans.
READ ALSO: Remembering Stephen Keshi: 3 facts that might have caused his sudden death in 2016
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