My article QATAR 2022 must impart a positive coaching legacy for Africa and the Caribbean member associations questioned whether the trend of all five African World Cup representatives in 2022 being led by indigenous head coaches was an ‘ongoing trend or a flash in the pan’. As the 2026 World Cup started, the landscape revealed a mixture of continued progress and a return to ‘foreign’ leadership in several nations. 

Tunisia is a case in point. Throughout the qualification process for the 2026 World Cup they were led by head coach Sabri Lamouchi who was born in France to Tunisian parents and holds both Tunisian and French citizenship. However, Lamouchi was sacked after Tunisia lost to Sweden in their first game and was replaced by the experienced French coach Herve Renard for the final two group games. Algeria, like Tunisia, appointed the experienced Bosnian coach Vladimir Petokic for the World Cup finals after a disappointing AFCON 2025 where they were coached by Algerian Djamel Belmadi.

After the group stage of the 2026 World Cup, these were the head coaches who are native to the African countries that qualified for the knockout phase: 

• Cape Verde: Pedro ‘Bubista’ Brito
• Egypt: Hossam Hassan
• Côte d’Ivoire/Ivory Coast: Emerse Faé (born in France, but is a former Ivorian international player and citizen)
• Morocco: Mohamed Ouahbi (dual Belgian-Moroccan national)
• Senegal: Pape Thiaw

Taking a closer look at each of these countries reveals some interesting insights into the ongoing development of African and Caribbean coaches. For example, following their historic semi-final run in 2022 World Cup Finals, Morocco’s technical leadership has transitioned from Walid Regragui to Mohamed Ouahbi. Both coaches are Moroccan, and Morocco has been extremely successful over the last few years. In October 2025, Morocco broke the world record for the longest winning streak in international football, surpassing Spain’s previous mark of 15 consecutive victories set between June 2008 and June 2009. Egypt are also attempting to be consistent with native leadership. The country is currently led by its all-time leading goal scorer, Hossam Hassan, who has been in post since 2024 and led the team to fourth place at AFCON 2025.

Côte d’Ivoire achieved historic success by winning AFCON 2023 after Emerse Faé took charge of the team under extraordinary circumstances. After the dismissal of head coach Jean-Louis Gasset (a French national) following a humiliating 4-0 group-stage defeat to Equatorial Guinea, Faé was promoted from assistant coach to caretaker manager just before the knockout rounds began. He then orchestrated a remarkable and miraculous run as the host nation’s leader, which culminated in a 2-1 victory over Nigeria in the final, making Faé the first manager in history to win a major tournament after taking over mid-competition. For this achievement, he was named the Best Coach of the 2023 AFCON. 

Following the tournament, Faé was rewarded with a permanent contract in February 2024. Under his permanent guidance, he led the Elephants through an undefeated qualifying campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, ending a 12-year drought for the nation on the global stage. His success is frequently cited as a landmark for the credibility of indigenous African coaching, proving that homegrown talent can deliver elite results under immense pressure. 

Emerse Faé

The contribution of FIFA

Since 2022, FIFA, CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football), and CAF (Confederation of African Football) have significantly expanded their investments in coaching development through new regulatory frameworks, specialised training workshops, and digital learning platforms. Through the revenue generated by past World Cups, FIFA has also created a global training centre and the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Legacy Fund has a Footballing Pillar focused on technical development and knowledge exchange. In November 2024, Aruba hosted the FIFA Coach Education Leaders' Knowledge Exchange Programme, which was aimed at implementing best practices across English-speaking Concacaf member associations. The Concacaf Coaching Convention, initially launched in March 2022, serves as the primary regulatory framework for standardising and raising the quality of coach education across its 41 Member Associations. This has led to Concacaf announcing in January 2026 its Pro Licensing programme, that was developed in collaboration with UEFA through the UEFA Together initiative, and sought to establish a unified, high-performance standard for elite coaches.

CAF’s technical renaissance

CAF has also intensified its coaching development by prioritising indigenous expertise and enforcing strict technical standards through the CAF Coaching Convention. Associations like Morocco have leveraged their youth setups, such as the coaching team of the Under-20 World Cup-winning squad, to create a pipeline for senior technical leadership, which led to the current coach succeeding the previous coach. A major milestone for CAF was Nigeria’s re-admission to the CAF A-License convention in 2026 after a nine-year absence. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) subsequently finalised plans for refresher courses and an elite six-module CAF A-License coaching course. Despite these programmes, sources highlight that participation and progression are often hampered by financial disparities. The cost of elite licensing remains a significant barrier; for example, the NFF/CAF A-License costs between $2,000 and $3,000, which is a prohibitive sum for many local candidates without National or club backing, in Nigeria. To address this, policy recommendations suggest establishing localised licensing subsidy mechanisms and shared regional high-performance hubs to ensure equitable access to these development programmes. 

Summary

The development of African and Caribbean coaches is an ongoing process, but a process that is important for the future of world football. There is no reason why the national teams from CAF and CONCACAF should not be coached by an indigenous coach rather than a foreign coach. Progress may be uneven, but it is certainly not a flash in the pan. Furthermore, when will we see an African or Caribbean educated coach becoming the head coach of an English Premier League club? There is no reason why this should not be the case given the number of players from Africa or of African heritage playing in the Premier League.