African men’s national teams rarely retain coaches after a less-than-stellar performance at AFCON. Most of them, including title-winning coaches, get fired or resign before the next tournament.
Since 1957, when AFCON started in Sudan and Egypt won the tournament, three coaches have won the title at least twice. Interestingly, only one of these coaches won the title twice with different teams.
But do you ever wonder who the most successful coach in AFCON is and the teams that won them the titles? Here is a detailed look at the three most successful coaches at the tournament.
1. Charles Kumi Gyamfi – 3 Titles
- Nationality: Ghanaian
- Teams Coached: Ghana National Team
- AFCON Trophies: 1963, 1965, 1982
The coach with the most AFCON titles is Charles Kumi Gyamfi. He won the titles with the Ghana men’s national teams.
Charles Kumi Gyamfi became the coach of the Ghana national team in 1963. He helped Ghana win the country’s first-ever title on his debut in 1963.
In 1965, Gyamfi won his second title with Ghana. But after the AFCON tournament in 1965, he left his position to pursue other interests.
He returned to coach Ghana in 1982 and immediately became the first-ever African coach to win three titles and the most successful coach of all time in AFCON when he won the 1982 AFCON tournament.
After 1982, Charles Gyamfi pursued a managerial career at the club level. Between 1983 and 1984, he was the manager of the Municipal Club.
In 1984, he went to Somalia and coached the Somalia Under-21 men’s national team. After that, Gyamfi moved to Kenya in 1988, where he became the head coach of Kenya Premier League giants AFC Leopards.
Charles Gyamfi left his position at AFC Leopards in 1991. In 1992, he became the head coach of Ashanti Gold, a team currently playing in the Ghana Premier League. However, he managed the team for only one year, leaving in 1993.
After Gyamfi retired from coaching and club management, he became FIFA’s Technical Study Group member for the 1999 and 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship.
Unfortunately, Charles Gyamfi died on 2 September 2015, aged 86.
2. Hassan Shehata – 3 Titles
- Nationality: Egypt
- Teams Coached: Egypt National Team
- AFCON Trophies: 2006, 2008, 2010
Hassan Shehata became the Egypt Under-20 men’s national team manager in 2001. However, he left his position in 2003 and went on to manage El Mokawloon.
But the Egyptian football federation hired Shehata in 2004 and made him the head coach of the Egypt men’s national team. Although Egypt qualified for the 2004 AFCON tournament, Hassan Shehata and his team were knocked out in the group stages after finishing third.
Nevertheless, Shehata returned to AFCON in 2006 and won the title. In 2008, Shehata won his second AFCON title with Egypt.
In 2010, Hassan Shehata became the second-most successful manager in the Africa Cup of Nations when he won his third title with Egypt. He also became the only coach to win the title three times in a row.
After seven years managing Egypt’s men’s national team, Hassan Shehata left his position in 2011. Instead, he returned to club coaching and became the head coach of Zamalek, the same team he played for during his playing career, and also gave him his first-ever managerial job.
He left Zamalek in 2012 and became the head coach of Al-Arabi. Shehata left Al-Arabi to coach Difaâ El Jadidi in 2014. Between 2014 and 2015, he was the manager of El Mokawloon.
Between 2015 and 2016, he coached Petrojet FC. Since 2018, Hassan Shehata has been the technical advisor of FC Mauerwerk.
3. Harve Renard – 2 Titles
- Nationality: France
- Teams Coached: Zambia, Angola, Ivory Coast, Morocco
- AFCON Trophies: 2012, 2015
Herve Renard is the most successful foreign coach in Africa, having won 2 AFCON titles.
Furthermore, he remains the only coach to win two AFCON titles with two different national teams.
Herve Renard first managed Zambia in 2008. But, unfortunately, he could not win the title with Zambia. So, he left in 2010.
The Angola football federation hired him as the national team’s head coach in 2010. But Renard could not bring success to the team and left the same year.
In 2011, Zambia rehired Herve Renard. His second spell was successful because he helped the team qualify for AFCON and win the country’s first-ever title.
However, after two years at the helm, he left Zambia national team in 2013 and returned to France to manage Ligue 1 side Sochaux. But Sochaux fired him in 2014.
That is when Ivory Coast hired Herve Renard to manage the national team. Renard helped Ivory Coast win the 2015 AFCON title and his second title as a coach at AFCON.
He left Ivory Coast in 2015 and became the head coach of Morocco in 2016. In 2019, he left Morocco and became the head coach of Saudi Arabia, where he helped the team qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
But after failing at the group stages with Saudi Arabia at the World Cup, Herve Renard left his position as the head coach in 2023.
In March 2023, Herve Renard became the head coach of the France women’s national team.
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Which coach impressed you the most at AFCON?
