Forty minutes into the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations final in Johannesburg, a blocked Victor Moses shot fell to Sunday Mba. He scooped up the ball, flicked it past a defender and knocked it home (Bleacher Report).
Burkina Faso never found a reply. When the whistle went at Soccer City on 10 February, Nigeria had a third continental title and the first in 19 years. Stephen Keshi, the man in the dugout, had just joined Egypt's Mahmoud El Gohary as the only men to win the trophy as both player and coach (Al Jazeera).
He was 51. Less than three and a half years later, he was gone.
From Azare to Anderlecht
Stephen Okechukwu Keshi was born on 23 January 1962 in Azare, Bauchi State, according to Daily Trust. He started at ACB Lagos in 1979 before moving to New Nigeria Bank in Benin. His international debut came in 1981.
Abidjan was the first stop abroad, in 1985 (Africanews). Belgium followed: Lokeren in 1986, then Anderlecht from 1987 to 1991, where he made 99 appearances and scored 18 goals. Strasbourg came next, then more Belgian football, a spell in California and a last stop at Perlis in Malaysia. The National wrote that his move in the mid-1980s helped spark the migration of Nigerian players to Europe (The National).
He won 64 caps and scored nine goals (Sky Sports), and when he died FIFA's tribute, as reported by ICIR, remembered a centre-back who “took games by the scruff of the neck and dictated matches from his position of influence as captain” (ICIR).
Tunis, though. That was the summit. On 10 April 1994 at the Stade El Menzah, Emmanuel Amuneke scored twice against Zambia, Elijah Litana headed one back, and the Eagles won 2-1 (Goal; The Guardian Nigeria). Daily Trust said he “marshaled a miserly Nigeria defence” that year. 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 (Africanews). The reward was brutal. Togo went out in the first round of the 2006 Nations Cup in Egypt and he was dismissed. Otto Pfister took the team to Germany instead, as Voice of America reported at the time. He returned to Lomé briefly in 2007, then took the Mali job in 2008. That ended in 2010, after a group-stage exit at the Nations Cup in Angola cost him his post. Two jobs, two exits.
The NFF hired him in November 2011 (Al Jazeera). Many dismissed him as inexperienced, Premium Times later recalled (Premium Times).
Johannesburg, Brasilia and the bitter end
His squad for South Africa 2013 was a gamble. 19 of the 23 players were tournament debutants. Six were home-based, including Mba, Godfrey Oboabona and Ejike Uzoenyi (Channels Television). The full list and every line-up from that run are in our guide to the Super Eagles AFCON 2013 squad.
It worked.
After the final he spoke about building, not just winning: “when I came on board a year and a half ago my dream was to make all Nigerians happy” (Al Jazeera). CAF named him its Coach of the Year for 2013 (Africanews).
Juwon Oshaniwa came off the bench in that final. In March 2026 he told Pulse Sports: “The confidence he gave all the domestic players assured him that whenever he called upon us, we'd always deliver” (Pulse Sports).
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 (FIFA). Al Jazeera added that he was the only African coach to qualify two nations for the World Cup. France ended the run 2-0 in Brasilia on 30 June 2014. He tweeted: “It has been a good run and I have enjoyed every moment.” To BBC Sport he said, “I wanted to leave on a high for my country” (The National).
He stayed. It soured. Nigeria failed to qualify for 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” (TheCable).
| Period | Role | Highlight |
|---|---|---|
| 1979-1985 | Player, ACB Lagos and New Nigeria Bank | International debut in 1981 |
| 1985-1998 | Player in Ivory Coast, Belgium, France, USA, Malaysia | 99 games, 18 goals for Anderlecht |
| 1981-1995 | Nigeria player and captain | 64 caps, 9 goals, AFCON 1994 winner |
| 2004-2006, 2007 | Togo head coach | Qualified Togo for the 2006 World Cup |
| 2008-2010 | Mali head coach | Sacked after AFCON 2010 group exit |
| 2011-2015 | Nigeria head coach | AFCON 2013 winner, 2014 World Cup round of 16 |
Benin City, June 2016
Grief came first. Kate Keshi, his wife, died of cancer in December 2015, and his brother Emmanuel Ado said Keshi had been mourning her ever since, and that he was due to fly back to the United States when he suffered a cardiac arrest in Benin City in the early hours of Wednesday 8 June 2016. “He had planned to fly back today, Wednesday, before he suffered a cardiac arrest,” Ado said (The National; Sky Sports).
NFF president Amaju Pinnick put it simply: “This is devastating. We have lost a superhero.” Ghana FA president Kwesi Nyantakyi called him “a great man and a noble spirit” (The National).
“I'm shocked and saddened by the devastating loss of Big Boss, a father and coach who gave many of us a chance to live our dreams.” Ogenyi Onazi, via Al Jazeera
The tributes crossed borders. Sunday Oliseh, his teammate in Tunis, wrote: “We lost an iconic hero today.” FIFA president Gianni Infantino offered his “deepest sympathy” (FIFA). From Zambia, the country he beat in that 1994 final, came Kalusha Bwalya: “Woke up to the sad news of the passing of my brother Stephen Keshi” (SportsClub). He was buried in his hometown of Illah, Delta State, in late July 2016. Former goalkeeper Peter Rufai called him “a great pillar that Nigerian football leaned on” (Channels Television).
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, and 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” (Premium Times). The same analysis reached for Keshi, alongside Clemens Westerhof, as proof that modest credentials do not always predict results. Chelle has done respectably. Nigeria took bronze at AFCON 2025 in Morocco after beating Egypt on penalties in Casablanca on 17 January 2026 (CAF). In June 2026 his new contract was confirmed, adding the U-23 side to his brief (TVC News).
None of that is a case against foreign coaches. Westerhof's era proves otherwise.
Our view is narrower. Keshi showed that a Nigerian coach who knows the domestic game, who will pick a Rangers 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. The lesson for the Glass House is that home-grown coaches need real development pathways, proper contracts and time, not the short leashes and summary dismissals that ended his own reign. He was not perfect. His last year in charge was messy.
But nobody has yet repeated what the Big Boss did.
Sources: Al Jazeera (2013 final), Bleacher Report, Al Jazeera (2016), Sky Sports, The National (2016), The National (2014), FIFA, ICIR Nigeria, Africanews, Daily Trust, The Guardian Nigeria, Goal, Voice of America, TheCable, Channels Television (2013), Channels Television (2016), SportsClub, Premium Times, Pulse Sports, CAF, TVC News.
This article was most recently revised and updated 17 seconds ago ago
