Former Nigerian Coach, Stephen Keshi began final journey home - Photos

Stephen Keshi

Stephen Keshi began final journey home, July 28, 2016, with requiem mass at St Pauls Catholic Church Benin.

 The former international and Africa Cup of Nations winning player and coach, 54, suddenly died from cardiac arrest in the early hours of Wednesday, June 8 in Benin City.

His death came few months after he lost Kate, his wife of 35 years, to cancer.

In a statement, the family of the late footballer announced that a church service will hold at St Paul Catholic Church, Benin City by 9am on Thursday, July 28.

His remains will be moved to the Samuel Ogbemudia Stadium, where a novelty match organised by his former teammates led by former Super Eagles captain and coach Austin Eguavoen will be staged in his honour. Afterwards, his corpse will depart for Asaba, the Delta State capital, where former Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan will receive him at the stadium named after him on Nnebisi Road.

Little About Stephen Keshi

Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (23 January 1962 – 7 June 2016) was a Nigerian football defender. He was also a football manager of the Nigeria national team. He was one of only two people, along with Egypt's Mahmoud El-Gohary, to have won the Africa Cup of Nations as both a player and a coach.

After a playing career mostly with Belgian clubs, Keshi went to the United States to be educated in coaching.

In 1996 he was joined by Augustine Eguavoen, who once coached the Nigerian national team. They played together in California as the backbone of the defence for the short-lived Sacramento Scorpions. Keshi has been a part of the coaching staff for the Nigerian national team, most notably as head coach for the Junior Eagles at the 2001 African Youth Championship which also served as qualification for the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship, without success.

Between 2004 and 2006 Keshi coached the Togo national football team, surprisingly bringing them to their first World Cup tournament, Germany 2006. Having secured Togo's unlikely qualification, he was promptly replaced by German coach Otto Pfister prior to the World Cup finals, after Togo showed a dismal performance and failed to advance to the knock-out stage in 2006 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. 

However, Pfister did not last beyond a controversial World Cup campaign that nearly resulted in a player's strike over pay and Togo remained without a manager until February 2007 when they re-engaged Keshi in time for a friendly against Cameroon.

He worked as manager of the Mali national football team, after being appointed in April 2008 on a two-year deal. Keshi was sacked in January 2010, after Mali's early exit in the group stages of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.