Forty minutes into the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations final in Johannesburg, a blocked Victor Moses shot fell to Sunday Mba. He flicked it past a defender and scored. Burkina Faso never replied. When the whistle went at Soccer City on 10 February, Nigeria had a third continental title and the first in 19 years.
The man in the dugout, Stephen Keshi, had just joined Egypt's Mahmoud El Gohary as the only men to win the trophy as both player and coach. He was 51. Less than three and a half years later, he was gone.
| Stephen Keshi at a glance | |
|---|---|
| Born | 23 January 1962, Azare, Bauchi State |
| Died | 8 June 2016, Benin City, cardiac arrest |
| Position | Centre-back, Super Eagles captain |
| Main clubs | ACB Lagos, New Nigeria Bank, Lokeren, Anderlecht, Strasbourg |
| Nigeria caps | 64 caps, 9 goals |
| Honours as player | AFCON 1994 winner as captain |
| Honours as coach | AFCON 2013 winner, CAF Coach of the Year 2013, 2014 World Cup round of 16, took Togo to the 2006 World Cup |
From Azare to Anderlecht
He started at ACB Lagos in 1979, then moved to New Nigeria Bank in Benin. His international debut came in 1981. Abidjan was the first stop abroad, in 1985. Belgium followed: Lokeren in 1986, then Anderlecht from 1987 to 1991, with 99 appearances and 18 goals. Strasbourg, more Belgian football, California and Perlis in Malaysia came after. When he died, The National wrote that his move to Europe in the mid-1980s had helped spark the wider migration of Nigerian players to the European leagues that followed. FIFA's tribute remembered a centre-back who “took games by the scruff of the neck and dictated matches from his position of influence as captain”.
Tunis, though. That was the summit.
On 10 April 1994 at the Stade El Menzah, Emmanuel Amuneke scored twice against Zambia and the Eagles won 2-1. That summer he captained the country at its first World Cup, in the United States, a story told in our piece on the Nigeria 1994 World Cup squad.
Togo, Mali and the long road home
The Togo job came in 2004. Against the odds, Keshi took the Hawks to the 2006 World Cup, their first. The reward was brutal. After a first-round exit at the 2006 Nations Cup he was dismissed, and Otto Pfister took the team to Germany. He returned to Lomé briefly in 2007. Mali followed in 2008 and ended in 2010, after a group-stage exit in Angola.
Two jobs, two exits.
Johannesburg, Brasilia and the bitter end
The NFF hired him in November 2011, and many dismissed him as inexperienced. His squad for South Africa 2013 looked like a gamble. Nineteen of the 23 players were tournament debutants. Six were home-based, including Mba, Godfrey Oboabona and Ejike Uzoenyi. The full list from that run is in our guide to the Super Eagles AFCON 2013 squad.
It worked.
After the final he said: “when I came on board a year and a half ago my dream was to make all Nigerians happy.” Juwon Oshaniwa, a substitute that night, told Pulse Sports in March 2026: “The confidence he gave all the domestic players assured him that whenever he called upon us, we'd always deliver.”
Then Brazil.
Nigeria reached the round of 16 at the 2014 World Cup, and FIFA credits Keshi as the first African coach to take a side that far. France ended the run 2-0 in Brasilia on 30 June. He told BBC Sport, “I wanted to leave on a high for my country.”
He stayed. It soured.
Nigeria missed the 2015 Nations Cup, and on 4 July 2015 the NFF summarily terminated his contract, saying his actions lacked “the required commitment to achieve the Federation's objectives”.
Benin City, June 2016
Grief came first.
His wife Kate died of cancer in December 2015. His brother Emmanuel Ado said Keshi had been mourning her ever since. He was due to fly back to the United States when he suffered a cardiac arrest in Benin City in the early hours of 8 June 2016.
NFF president Amaju Pinnick put it simply: “This is devastating. We have lost a superhero.” From Zambia, the country he beat in that 1994 final, Kalusha Bwalya mourned “my brother Stephen Keshi”. He was buried in his hometown of Illah, Delta State, in late July 2016.
What Keshi means for Nigerian coaches
Check the honours board. Keshi is still the only man to win the Nations Cup with Nigeria as both captain and coach. Our ranking of the most successful Super Eagles coaches at AFCON puts his 2013 run in context.
Since then the job has mostly gone abroad. When the NFF named Eric Chelle in January 2025, Premium Times called it a “curious gamble” and cited Keshi as proof that modest credentials do not always predict results. Chelle has done respectably. Nigeria took bronze at AFCON 2025, beating Egypt on penalties in Casablanca on 17 January 2026.
Our view is narrower. Keshi showed that a Nigerian coach who knows the domestic game, who will pick a home-based midfielder for a Nations Cup final and who holds the respect of a dressing room full of Europe-based stars can win the biggest prize on the continent. Home-grown coaches need pathways, proper contracts and time. Short leashes ended his reign.
He was not perfect. But nobody has yet repeated what the Big Boss did.
This article was most recently revised and updated 3 days ago
