Sudan head coach Kwesi Appiah has called on African FAs to empower local coaches.
The Ghanian made the case for fellow Africans while addressing media ahead of his side’s clash with Congo in the TotalEnergies Africa Nations Championship (CHAN) in Amaan Zanzibar.
Appiah is one of the several African coaches managing national teams in the CHAN 2024 and wants people to believe in them.
“Africans must first believe in ourselves before others can take us seriously,” he declared. “It’s not about where someone is from. It’s about standing together as Africans.”
It’s a powerful statement from a coach who’s walked the talk across multiple national teams.
In the CHAN 2024 tournament going across Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, 16 of the 19 coaches are Africans, something that will excite Appiah.
Besides, only once has the competition been won a foreigner when Clement led to Libya to the title in 2014.
Only Zambia (Avram Grant), Mauritania (Artiz Garay Lopez) and Angola (Pedro Goncalves) are the only none African coaches at the tournament.
National Team coaches at CHAN 2024
- Uganda – Morley Byekwaso
- Niger – Harouna Diallo
- South Africa – Molefi Ntseki
- Guinea – Souleymane Camara
- Algeria – Majid Bougherra
- Kenya – Benni McCarthy
- Tanzania – Hemed ‘Morocco’ Suleiman
- Senegal – Souleymane Diallo
- Nigeria – Eric Chelle
- Congo – Barthélemy Ngatsono
- DR Congo – Otis Ngoma
- Madagascar – Romuald Rakotondrabe
- Central African Republic – Sebastien Ngato
- Burkina Faso – Issa Balbone
- Morocco – Tarik Sektioui
- Mauritania – Artiz Garay Lopez
- Zambia – Avram Grant
- Angola – Pedro Goncalves