Data-driven Analysis of African Team Coaches at the World Cup

African Coaches at FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™

In previous World Cup tournaments, African teams have been coached by 29 foreign coaches. Among these, 14 coaches were from France, representing the highest number of foreign coaches. This count represents the number of appearances per tournament, even if a coach took charge of African national teams on multiple occasions.

• No country has ever won the World Cup tournament with a foreign coach.
• There are 5 African countries participating in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™. Two (2) are from North Africa, two from West Africa, and one from Central Africa.
• Cameroon has the highest number of appearances from Africa, appearing in 7 previous World Cup tournaments with 4 French coaches, 2 German coaches and 1 Russian coach. The Russian Coach, Valeri Nepomnyashchi led The Indomitable Lions to their best outing (quarter-final) in 1990.
• Senegal has participated in 2 previous World Cup tournaments with 1 French coach and 1 Senegalese coach. The French Coach, Bruno Metsu led The Lions of Teranga to their best outing (quarter-final) in 2002.
• Ghana has participated in 3 previous World Cup tournaments with 2 Serbian coaches and 1 Ghanaian coach. The Serbian Coach, Milovan Rajevac led The Black Stars to their best outing (quarter-final) in 2010.
• Morocco has participated in 5 previous World Cup tournaments with 2 French coaches, 1 Brazilian, 1 North Macedonian and 1 Moroccan coach. The Brazilian Coach, José Faria led The Atlas Lions to their best outing (round of 16) in 1986.
• Tunisia has participated in 5 previous World Cup tournaments with 4 Tunisian coaches and 1 French coach. None of them took them past the group stages.
• Henri Michel is the only foreign coach who coached 3 different African countries at the World Cup followed by Blagoje Vidinić who coached 2 different countries (Morocco and Congo DR).

Examining National Team Coaches of African Teams at Previous World Cup Tournaments (1970 – 2018)

• African teams have participated in previous World Cup tournaments with 29 foreign coaches and 15 indigenous coaches.
• Of the15 indigenous coaches, Algeria had 2 coaches at the 1982 World Cup – Rachid Mekhloufi & Mahieddine Khalef. Of the 29 foreign coaches, Blagoje Vidinić appeared twice (led Morocco in 1970 and former Zaire in 1974) while Henri Michel appeared 3 times (led Cameroon in 1994, Morocco in 1998 and Côte D’Ivoire in 2006).
• French coaches have made the most appearances (11 times) in coaching African teams at the tournament; Henri Michel has made 3 of these appearances. German Coaches follow with 4 appearances; Serbians with 3 appearances; Brazilians, Portuguese and North Macedonians with 2 appearances.
• Blagoje Vidinić from North Macedonia led the first and second African teams to their tournament debut in 1970 and 1974 consecutively.

Indigenous or Foreign Coach At The World Cup: Any Difference?

In this analysis, we will delve into the historical performances of African coaches in FIFA World Cup tournaments from 1970 to 2018, examining their impact and contributions to the global football stage.

• It is difficult to establish if African teams have had it any better being coached by an indigenous or foreign coach at the World Cup. Given the number, half of the coaches have been indigenous coaches, this means African coaches have had half the chance to achieve comparable results.
• From the records, teams led by foreign coaches have conceded more goals when compared to indigenous coaches. Conversely, teams led by foreign coaches have scored more goals than teams led by indigenous coaches.
• Volker Finke (from Germany) led Cameroon to the 2014 tournament, conceding 9 goals and scoring 1 goal.
• Only Rabah Saâdane (2010 – Algeria) and Adeboye Onigbinde (2014 – Nigeria) have led teams that did not score ay goal at the tournament. Both teams conceded 2 goals.
• James Appiah led Ghana to the 2014 tournament, conceding 6 goals and scoring 4 goals.
• Henri Michel (from France) led Cameroon to the 1994 tournament, conceding 11 goals and scoring 3 goals.

Exit Stages of African Teams at The World Cup

• Using the group stage exit as a yardstick, Blagoje Vidinić (from North Macedonia) coached Congo DR (former Zaire) to the highest number of goals (14) ever conceded by an African team at the tournament.
• Using the group stage exit as a yardstick, the highest number of goals conceded by an indigenous coach is 8 – Nabil Maâloul led Morocco to the 2018 tournament, conceding 8 goals and scoring 5 goals.
• Using the highest level of reached as a yardstick, 1 indigenous coach and 5 foreign coaches have reached the round of 16 stage while 3 foreign coaches have reached the quarter-final stage.
• Coaches from Serbia are more successful in leading African teams past the group stage of the tournament.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.