Togo’s sports journalists Association [Association des JournalistesSportifs du Togo (AJST)] together with the West African nations’ football association and Sports Ministry organised a football match this weekend in honor of the late national team coach, Stephen Keshi.
The match was played between the 2006 Togo national team set and the current Hawks squad.
Stephen Keshi, a winner of the African Cup of Nations as a player and coach with the Super Eagles, died at 54 earlier this month.
The football legend passed away after a suspected heart attack in Benin City, Southern Nigeria.
“For us in Togo, Keshi was one of us. He was the first coach to take Togo’s national football team to the FIFA World Cup in Germany in 2006,” President of the Togolese football body,KossiAkpovy, had said hours after the Nigerian legend died.
FTF secretary general Pierre Lamadokou said “Keshi was a great coach who wrote his name in golden letters in Togo’s football history.”
Nicknamed “The Boss,” Keshiis fondly remembered for helping tiny Togo to qualify for their first – and to date only – appearance at the World Cup finals, but was sacked a few months before Germany 2006.
He later coached Malian national team, before guiding Nigeria to victory in the 2013 edition of African Cup of Nations.