By Sola Fanawopo, Fes

I dedicate today’s Observatory to our guys on the touchline—the African coaches, breaking the glass ceiling with authority and results at AFCON 2025. Take your flowers. You are representing.

AFCON 2025 is doing something African football has struggled to achieve for decades: it is winning an argument without raising its voice.

As the tournament reaches the crucial phases in Morocco, attention naturally gravitates toward star players and dramatic score lines.

Yet the deeper story—the one that will outlive goals and trophies—is unfolding on the touchlines. For the first time in decades, African coaches are not merely present at the Africa Cup of Nations; they are the dominant force shaping it.

At the Africa Cup of Nations 2025, 13 of the 24 teams are led by African head coaches, while 11 are managed by foreign tacticians. That numerical shift alone marks a historic correction. But numbers only matter when they perform—and African coaches are not filling slots. They are setting the tone, the pace, and the psychology of the tournament.

AFCON Is an Ecosystem, not a Theory Class

AFCON has always punished rigid thinking. It is not a laboratory for ideal football models; it is an ecosystem defined by climate, emotion, compressed recovery cycles, refereeing rhythms, and the weight of national expectation. This was precisely why African federations once believed only European coaches could “study” and master the tournament’s complexity.

AFCON 2025 has exposed the flaw in that logic.

African coaches do not analyse this ecosystem from the outside. They are shaped by it. Their teams are built to survive turbulence, absorb pressure, manage transitions, and win moments rather than possession statistics. AFCON does not ask who dominated the ball—it asks who dominated the moment.

Trust Has Changed Hands

One of the most revealing images of the tournament came during Nigeria’s group-stage match against Uganda. Victor Osimhen, Africa’s most recognisable striker, sprinted to the touchline during an injury stoppage to receive tactical instructions from his African coach.

It was a simple act—but a profound one.

This is the quiet psychological revolution of AFCON 2025. African players—many raised in Europe’s elite academies—no longer see African coaches as stopgap appointments. They see authority, clarity, and cultural understanding. Trust has become discipline. Discipline has become execution. The evidence is visible in compact defending, tactical obedience, and emotional control under pressure.

Institutional Memory as a Competitive Weapon

African coaches also arrive with something rarely acknowledged in global football analysis: institutional memory.

They understand federation politics, logistical uncertainty, late disruptions, and the emotional weight of national expectation. They plan not only for opponents, but for chaos. Foreign coaches often encounter these realities for the first time at AFCON. African coaches have already adapted to them.

That difference does not always show in possession charts—but it shows in knockout matches.

The Cote d’Ivoire Moment That Changed Everything

The philosophical turning point did not begin in Morocco. It began at the Africa Cup of Nations 2023.

Cote ‘Ivoire started that tournament under a French coach, Jean-Louis Gasset. After two matches marked by tactical confusion and emotional disconnection, he was dismissed. The federation turned inward and appointed Emerse Faé.

What followed was not a miracle. It was an alignment.

Tactical clarity returned. Confidence surged. The dressing room reconnected with the nation. Cote d’Ivoire went on to win the AFCON, collapsing a decades-old argument that African coaches needed foreign supervision to succeed.  AFCON 2025 is the harvest of that lesson.

A New African Coaching Identity

From Walid Regragui on home soil, to Éric Chelle with Nigeria, to Pape Thiaw, a clear archetype has emerged: African-rooted, tactically educated, emotionally intelligent, and globally competent.

CAF licensing reforms, years of assistantship under foreign managers, and accumulated tournament experience have finally converged. African coaches are no longer imitating Europe. They are interpreting Africa—and winning with it.

The Verdict—and the Next Test

African coaches are not dominating AFCON 2025 because Africa suddenly became generous to its own. They are dominating because the tournament now rewards what they have always mastered: context, adaptability, authority, and emotional intelligence.

AFCON 2025 is not an upset. It is a recalibration.

The next question is unavoidable: When will European clubs trust African coaches the same way AFCON now does?

If football truly believes the world is flat, then opportunity must finally follow performance. African coaching is no longer catching up. It is setting the terms.

Sola Fanawopo is a journalist and Chairman Osun Football Association writes from Morocco

Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H

Yasser Ibrahim’s superb header and Mohamed Salah’s breakaway strike earned record seven-time champions Egypt a hard-fought 3-1 extra-time victory over Benin in the Africa Cup of Nations round of 16 on Monday.

Egypt led after 69 minutes through a brilliant 25-metre strike from Marwan Attia, but Benin forced the game into an additional 30 minutes when they equalised late on through Jodel Dossou.

Defender Ibrahim scored his first international goal on 97 minutes when he met Attia’s cross with a header from 15 yards that looped into the top corner of the net, and Salah raced clear to add the third with the last kick of the game.

“It was a very difficult match, Benin are a tough opponent,” Egypt coach Hossam Hassan said. “We are mentally prepared to play for 90 minutes or extra time. I have confidence in my team and my staff, especially the medical team, for a proper recovery of the players before the next match.”

Benin’s energy and never-say-die spirit stood up well to Egypt’s more composed artistry.

Omar Marmoush was put through one-on-one with Benin goalkeeper Marcel Dandjinou but delayed his shot too long and the gloveman was able to make the save at his feet.

Egypt went closer when Marmoush poked the loose ball goalwards but defender Yohan Roche cleared the ball off the line.

ATTIA ON TARGET

Egypt finally broke the deadlock when the ball came to Attia outside the box and he curled his shot into the top corner.

Benin equalised with eight minutes remaining in normal time though and there was a touch of good fortune about it.

Junior Olaitan’s cross from the right took a wicked deflection off Ahmed Fatouh and although Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy made a superb save, Dossou bundled the ball over the line from close range.

After Ibrahim had restored Egypt’s advantage, Salah raced clear in the 124th minute and produced a typically composed finish as he beat the back-pedalling keeper from 25 metres.

“When you take the individual talents of the Egyptians, it’s not the same (as Benin),” Benin coach Gernot Rohr said. “Especially since our best striker (Steve Mounie) was missing. In a match like this, he would have helped us a lot.”

Egypt left back Mohamed Hamdi was substituted at halftime, and his coach Hassan said he may have suffered a serious knee injury.

Egypt will face defending champions Cote d’Ivoire or Burkina Faso in the quarter-finals in Agadir on Saturday.

-Reuters

Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H

In March 2024, retired Argentine soccer star Carlos Tevez published a tweet, opens new tab hinting at something suspicious going on in a Buenos Aires suburb. The treasurer of the Argentine Football Association, Tevez claimed, was making many trips to Pilar, where he implied the soccer official had buried bags of money and kept a collection of antique cars.

Coalicion Civica, a progressive political party, began investigating after Tevez’s post and filed a criminal complaint centered on a mystery villa in Pilar.

As the World Cup approaches, allegations that the villa may have been used for money-laundering have become one of a series of scandals gripping the soccer association that is in charge of the game in Argentina, the current world champions.

In early December, police raided the AFA headquarters and more than a dozen soccer clubs as part of a money-laundering probe that looked at transfers of money tied to clubs and a financial services company.

Three days later, authorities raided the Pilar villa, finding a heliport, stables and 54 vehicles, including luxury cars and collectible cars. In its criminal complaint, Coalicion Civica alleges the property is a front for a money-laundering scheme connected to Chiqui Tapia, the president of the AFA, and its treasurer, Pablo Toviggino.

Last week, in another case, a prosecutor charged Tapia, Toviggino and other AFA leaders for unlawful retention of taxes totaling $13 million following a complaint from Argentina’s tax agency, according to news outlet La Nacion.

The AFA did not respond to an inquiry from Reuters requesting an interview with both Tapia and Toviggino and for comment on the various judicial investigations that have been opened.

In a public statement, the association has said it is being attacked by the government of President Javier Milei, referring to how Milei has pushed for Argentina’s soccer clubs, which have long functioned as nonprofit entities run by their members, to become for-profit companies under private owners.

“We are on the right path,” the AFA said, listing competitions Argentina has won since Tapia became president in 2017, including the World Cup itself in 2022.

A representative for Tevez did not respond to an interview request. Toviggino did not respond to a request for comment.

CRISIS DESPITE SUCCESS

Despite plaudits for Argentina’s performance on the field, the AFA is going through its biggest crisis in years.

“There are two AFAs,” said Nestor Centra, an Argentine sports journalist, referring to its international success and the instability at home.

Several months after Tevez’s tweet, Matias Yofe, president of Coalicion Civica’s branch in Pilar, told Reuters that he and his colleagues talked to about 10 employees who had worked at the Pilar property and presumed that Toviggino or Tapia were the owners.

One person, Yofe said, described Tapia once arriving by helicopter and then gifting employees soccer jerseys.

“What they described was they moved as owners of the place, they got in the pool, used the facilities,” Yofe said. “Everyone indicated that this belongs to people of the AFA.”

Coalicion Civica’s complaint alleged that the property had been purchased in 2024 by a company owned by Ana Lucia Conte and Luciano Nicolas Pantano, a mother and son that it claimed could not afford the purchase. An attorney who has represented Pantano did not respond to a request for comment.

Records viewed by Reuters indicate that the property, several city blocks long, was bought for $1.8 million, although experts suspect it’s worth much more. The complaint points to Pantano’s connections with the soccer world, such as serving as the head of the Argentine Civil Association of Futsal and Beach Soccer.

According to court documents, officials during the raid found a black imitation leather bag branded with the AFA logo and Toviggino’s name, several books on soccer and a plaque honoring Toviggino. The 54 vehicles included a Ferrari and several Porsches, registered under the company the complaint attributed to Pantano and Conte.

An official with knowledge of the case said that Toviggino’s relatives had authorization to drive at least several of the cars, confirming a report by local television station TN. Authorities have requested information on the pilots who used the heliport in the hopes of learning about the passengers.

The justice ministry has demanded that the AFA and the Superliga, an association that handles transmission rights of matches, give explanations for accounting entries of nearly half a billion dollars going back to 2017. Daniel Vitolo, the head of the ministry’s Inspector General’s office, told Reuters that those amounts fall into categories on balance reports with generic names such as “others.” The Superliga declined a request from Reuters for comment.

“If the AFA really has its papers in order, why doesn’t it explain something that’s very easy to explain?” he said.

‘THESE THINGS HAPPEN’

Experts said it’s unlikely that the judicial cases will affect Argentina’s participation in the World Cup.

“No one can pay the political cost of doing that,” said Alan Wilder, a sports law attorney in Buenos Aires. “No one would approve of the mere idea of taking (Lionel) Messi out of the World Cup, with this possibly being his last World Cup. He’s the sacred cow.”

Soccer worldwide is no stranger to financial scandals, and in recent years top FIFA officials have been charged with corruption. Tapia’s predecessor resigned amid an investigation into irregularities involving management of match broadcasting funds. Those charged in the case were absolved this month.

Prior to the current scandals, AFA had already faced criticism by fans for favoritism. Many were angered when the AFA recently awarded Rosario Central, home team of national star player Angel Di Maria, a new and controversial trophy.

“I think the lid has been blown off the pot,” said Enzo Gutierrez, 30, a Buenos Aires resident who roots for the team San Martin from his native province of San Juan. “It has grabbed my attention a lot but if you’re a soccer fan you live knowing that these things happen in Argentine soccer.”

-Reuters

Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H