Confederation of African Football, CAF, president, Alhaji Issa Hayatou has commiserated with the NFF and the Nigeria football family over the death of former Super Eagles captain and coach, Stephen Okechukwu Keshi on Wednesday.
In a letter addressed to Nigeria Football Federation President, Amaju Pinnick, Hayatou wrote, “We have learned with great dismay and immense sadness the passing away of African and Nigerian football legend Stephen Okechukwu Keshi.
“Even if Stephen Keshi left us too early, he achieved an incredible career, both as a player and as a coach, being one of only two people in African football history, along with Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary, to have won the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player, in Tunisia in 1994, and as a coach, in South Africa in 2013.
“After having played mostly with French and Belgian clubs, Stephen Keshi became a tremendous professional coach, coaching the Togo national football team between 2004 and 2006, and incredibly achieving the dream of any nation by making the West African nation to qualify to its first ever World Cup in 2006 in Germany.”
Also in another tribute addressed to the NFF, president of the Tanzania Football Federation, TFF, Jamal Malinzi said, “I am truly sorry to hear of the loss of Nigeria and Africa’s football legend Stephen Keshi.
“In this sorrowful time, I would like on behalf of the football community in Tanzania to extend to you our heartfelt condolences… “Though he is gone, his service to football has not lasted with his passing as he will always have an everlasting legacy in the game of football.”
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