An all-African coaching battle will define the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, as Morocco\u2019s\u00a0Walid Regragui and Senegal\u2019s\u00a0Pape Thiaw\u00a0prepare for a high-stakes tactical duel. The matchup guarantees that an African coach will once again lift the continent\u2019s most coveted trophy, underscoring a seismic shift in the landscape of international football.<\/p>\n
As the Ivory Coast\u2019s reign as champions officially draws to a close, Morocco and Senegal will vie for the throne. The\u00a0Atlas Lions\u00a0advanced following a gruelling semifinal victory over Nigeria on January 14. After 120 minutes of scoreless football, Morocco triumphed 4-2 on penalties. They now stand a single victory away from securing their second-ever continental star, exactly 50 years after their inaugural win in 1976.<\/p>\n
Standing in their way are the\u00a0Lions of Teranga, hungry to add a second star to their crest following their breakthrough 2021 title. Senegal secured their place in the January 18 finale by overcoming Egypt, the continent\u2019s most successful side. The decisive blow came via a thunderous strike from\u00a0Sadio Man\u00e9, effectively ending the title hopes of his longtime contemporary,\u00a0Mohamed Salah. For the 33-year-old Salah, the defeat was particularly poignant, as the window to capture an elusive AFCON trophy narrows with every passing season.<\/p>\n
Beyond the individual brilliance on the pitch, the tournament reached a landmark milestone in the semifinals: for the first time in history,\u00a0every remaining team was led by an African mentor.\u00a0This shift marks a profound evolution in the continental game, suggesting that African federations are finding unprecedented success by ditching the Eurocentric model and trusting local tactical minds.<\/p>\n
While Egypt\u2019s Mourad Fahmy secured the inaugural AFCON title in 1957, the decades that followed were often dominated by European and South American coaches. However, the tide has officially turned.<\/p>\n
Of the 24 nations in the 2025 field,\u00a014 were led by African head coaches, outnumbering international counterparts for the third consecutive tournament.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, the last four AFCON titles have been won exclusively by African tacticians, including\u00a0Emerse Fa\u00e9\u00a0(Ivory Coast, 2023),\u00a0Aliou Ciss\u00e9\u00a0(Senegal, 2021), and\u00a0Djamel Belmadi\u00a0(Algeria, 2019).<\/p>\n
The era of foreign dominance, last highlighted by\u00a0Herv\u00e9 Renard\u2019s\u00a0historic wins with Zambia (2012) and Ivory Coast (2015), is facing its most sustained challenge yet.<\/p>\n
The preference for local leadership is no longer just a trend; it is a demand from players and legends alike. Before his team\u2019s exit, Egypt\u2019s\u00a0Hossam Hassan\u00a0expressed immense pride in the homegrown semifinal sweep. \u201cWith all due respect for foreign coaches, I am one of those who favour countries hiring local coaches,\u201d Hassan remarked.<\/p>\n
This sentiment was echoed by Super Eagles captain\u00a0Wilfred Ndidi, who urged the Nigeria Football Federation to maintain stability despite their semifinal exit under Malian coach \u00c9ric Chelle. \u201cFor continuity, I feel like they should keep the coach\u2026 he\u2019s a wonderful manager,\u201d Ndidi said. \u201cThe only thing we need now is continuity, not to try to change things because we didn\u2019t get to a final.\u201d<\/p>\n
Interestingly, Hassan wants the opposite when it comes to the players. \u201cAny player playing in Europe becomes more mature physically and tactically. Our team has the least number [of exports \u2013 three in Europe]. We need more players playing in European leagues,\u201d Hassan told journalists.<\/p>\n
He believes even with a limited number of European-based stars, the team remained highly competitive. \u201cWith the three players we have in Europe, we were able to get to the semifinal,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Despite the push to export players, Hassan emphasised that players remaining in Egypt must face the highest level of competition possible. He challenged Egyptian clubs to prioritise deep runs in the CAF Champions League to bridge the gap.<\/p>\n
Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says South Africa needs to export players to the biggest leagues to reach the next level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cOur players have to be challenged more, I said from the beginning, the level of PSL and the level we were up against is a very big [difference],\u201d said Broos after being booted out of the AFCON in the Round of 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can only make that gap smaller when you have players in big competitions. So, let\u2019s hope we have players who can get chances to move to the big competitions in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thiaw will place his hopes on Man\u00e9, who rose to prominence during his time at Liverpool, while Achraf Hakimi of PSG will be expected to steer the hosts to the podium.<\/p>\n
While the landscape is changing, the bar for success remains set by two African icons. Ghana\u2019s\u00a0Charles Gyamfi\u00a0(1963, 1965, 1982) and Egypt\u2019s\u00a0Hassan Shehata\u00a0(2006, 2008, 2010) share the record for the most decorated coach in tournament history with three titles each.<\/p>\n
For Egypt, the shadow of Shehata\u2019s three-peat has grown long. Their quest for an eighth star was dismantled by Senegal\u2019s clinical efficiency, ensuring the Pharaohs\u2019 post-Shehata drought continues.<\/p>\n
By the time the final whistle blows on Sunday, African coaches will have guided their teams to victory in\u00a019 of the 35 editions\u00a0of the tournament. Whether it is Regragui\u2019s tactical discipline or Thiaw\u2019s attacking flair that prevails, the ultimate winner is already decided: the rising prestige of the African coach.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An all-African coaching battle will define the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, as Morocco\u2019s\u00a0Walid Regragui and Senegal\u2019s\u00a0Pape Thiaw\u00a0prepare for a high-stakes tactical duel. The matchup guarantees that an African coach will once again lift the continent\u2019s most coveted trophy, underscoring a seismic shift in the landscape of international football. As the Ivory Coast\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_25071586472533619_109551237394069":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[602],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-newsroom"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21692","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21692"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21692\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricansun.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}