23, January 2025

Football: Claude Le Roy holds special piece of Africa Cup of Nations history ⁰

Claude Le Roy’s first two TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations finals tournaments saw his team finished on the podium but the achievement that the popular Frenchman is most famous for is a record nine appearances as a coach.

His is a record that might take decades to beat. “Records are meant to be broken! But for me it’s a privilege that I had all these opportunities and even more important for me is the fact I was never sacked, I always decided to leave. And that’s a big privilege,” recalls the 76-year-old, who still follows the African game with a keen eye.

“And everywhere I worked, people always asked me to come back. I’m proud of that.”

His first game in 1986 was a thrilling 3-2 win over Zambia in Alexandria where Cameroon led slip a two-goal lead but then won the match with a late penalty while a burst of three goals in the space of six minutes saw them beat Algeria 3-2 to finish top of the group. After Roger Milla’s goal accounted for Cote d’Ivoire in the semi-final, Cameroon met host Egypt in the decider, going down on penalties 5-4 after a goalless draw.

Two years later, however, the Indomitable Lions were crowned champions, overcoming hosts Morocco in a fiery semi-final and then edging Nigeria in the final in Casablanca with Emmanuel Kunde’s second half penalty settling the outcome.

Le Roy coached Senegal at the 1990 and 1992 finals, finishing fourth the first time in Algeria but then being disappointingly eliminated by his old Cameroon charges in the quarter-finals when Senegal hosted the 1992 finals.

Le Roy missed the next six Cup of Nations finals before taking the Democratic Republic of Congo to the 2006 tournament in Egypt, where they reached the last eight.

In 2008, he coached a host nation for the second time, this time Ghana but there was a disappointing semi-final exit to Cameroon again.

In 2013, Le Roy was back with the Leopards but three draws in their first round meant they finished third in the group. It was the first time in seven tournaments the coach had not taken a side beyond the first round.

Congo had missed six successive finals before Le Roy qualified them for the 2015 edition in Equatorial Guinea and saw them to the quarter-finals as they won their group.

Le Roy’s last tournament was in Gabon in 2017 with Togo and his record 38 games as a coach at the finals has seen 16 wins, 12 draws and 10 losses with a positive goal tally of 44 scored to 38 conceded.

Le Roy at the Cup of Nations finals

1986 (Cameroon)

Cameroon 3 Zambia 2

Cameroon 1 Morocco 1

Algeria 2 Cameroon 3

Cameroon 1 Cote d’Ivoire 0

Egypt 0 Cameroon 0

1988 (Cameroon)

Cameroon 1 Egypt 0

Cameroon 1 Nigeria 1

Cameroon 0 Kenya 0

Morocco 0 Cameroon 1