Stephen Keshi

**Stephen Keshi**
Personal information
Full name	Stephen Okechukwu Keshi
Date of birth	23 January 1962 (age 62)
Place of birth	Azare, Bauchi State, Nigeria
Height	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Team information
Current team	Nigeria (manager)
Senior career*
Years	Team
1979	ACB Lagos
1980–1984	New Nigeria Bank
1985	Stade d'Abidjan
1986	Africa Sports
1986–1987	Lokeren
1987–1991	Anderlecht
1991–1993	RC Strasbourg
1993–1994	Molenbeek
1995	CCV Hydra
1996	Sacramento Scorpions
1997–1998	Perlis FA
Total
International career
1981–1995	Nigeria
Managerial career
2004–2006	Togo
2007–2008	Togo
2008–2010	Mali
2011	Togo
2011–	Nigeria
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (born 23 January 1962) is a Nigerian football manager and former football defender who has managed the Nigeria national team since 2011. He is one of only two people, along with Egypt's Mahmoud El-Gohary, to have won the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a coach.

Coaching career

After a playing career mostly with Belgian clubs, Keshi went to the United States to be educated in coaching.

In 1996 he was joined by Augustine Eguavoen, who once coached the Nigerian national team. They played together in California as the backbone of the defence for the short-lived Sacramento Scorpions. Keshi has been a part of the coaching staff for the Nigerian national team, most notably as head coach for the Junior Eagles at the 2001 African Youth Championship which also served as qualification for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, without success.

Between 2004 and 2006 Keshi coached the Togo national football team, unexpectedly bringing them to their first World Cup tournament, Germany 2006. Having secured Togo's unlikely qualification, he was promptly replaced by German coach Otto Pfister prior to the World Cup finals, after Togo showed a dismal performance and failed to advance to the knock-out stage in 2006 African Cup of Nations in Egypt.

However, Pfister did not last beyond a controversial World Cup campaign that nearly resulted in a player's strike over pay and Togo remained without a manager until February 2007 when they re-engaged Keshi in time for a friendly against Cameroon.

He worked as manager of the Mali national football team, after being appointed in April 2008 on a two-year deal.^[2] Keshi was sacked in January 2010, after Mali's early exit in the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations.^[3]

Keshi became coach of the Nigerian National Team in 2011.^[4]^[5] He led Nigeria to qualification for the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, which they went on to win, defeating Burkina Faso 1–0 in the final.^[6] The following day Keshi handed in his resignation,^[7] only to reverse his decision the day after.^[8]