Stephen Keshi started playing professional football in 1979 in Lagos joggling from one club to the other before he got his first break outside Africa’s largest economy.
His footballing career began as a football player between 1979 and 1998. It also continued as a coach from 2001 till he died on Wednesday, June 8, 2016.
He moved to Abidjan in 1985 to play in their premier league before getting his big break in 1986. He was spotted and signed by Belgian football club Sporting Lokeren in 1986, to ply his trade in Europe.
A year after his stint with Lokeren, Keshi was signed by Belgian premier league side Anderlecht in 1987. He appeared 99 times for the club scoring 18 goals till he left to Strasbourg in 1991.
With Anderlecht, he won the Belgian Cup in 1988 and 1989 and then the Jupiler league in 1991.
Keshi continued his play with other teams in Belgium till 1995 when he moved to California in the United States of America and played for smaller teams. He used that opportunity to train as a coach in 1996.
Stephen Keshi finally moved to Malaysia in 1997 to play for second division side Perlis, before ending his active footballing career as a player in 1998.
Stephen Keshi appeared 64 times for the Nigerian national team, Super Eagles scoring 9 goals as a central defender. He won the Africa Cup of Nations as captain of the team in 1994.
During this time, Nigeria reached number 5 on the FIFA world ranking, highest for an African team.
After his coaching training in 1996 in the USA, Stephen Keshi got the opportunity to lead Nigeria’s Junior Eagles at the 2001 African Youth Championship.
He started his major coaching career with Togo in 2004 helping them qualify for the first time to the World Cup in Germany in 2006.
He was however replaced with Otto Pfister at the World Cup and then brought back after poor performance and controversies surrounding the Togolese team in 2007.
Keshi then coached Mali in 2008 and was sacked in 2010 after poor performance resulting in the team’s failure to progress from the group stage at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
He was however replaced with Otto Pfister at the World Cup and then brought back after poor performance and controversies surrounding the Togolese team in 2007.
Keshi then coached Mali in 2008 and was sacked in 2010 after poor performance resulting in the team’s failure to progress from the group stage at the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola.
Stephen Keshi is one of two Africans to win the Africa Cup of Nations as a player and as coach of a national team. He was the captain of the Super Eagles winning team in 1994 and the coach of the 2013 winning team in South Africa.
Keshi had a heart attack and died en route to hospital on 7 June 2016 in Benin City, aged 54. His wife had died the previous December.