Former Nigeria captain Sunday Oliseh has labelled the late Stephen Keshi, who coached the Super Eagles to Africa Cup of Nations glory in 2013 as the first superstar of Nigerian football, Footynaija.com reports.
The legendary former defender and head coach enjoyed plenty of success during his playing days with his peak years coming at Anderlecht where he won two Belgian Pro League titles as well as two Belgian Cups.
He also won the 1994 AFCON as captain of the Super Eagles before becoming only one of two people to win the tournament as both a player and a coach after Nigeria’s triumph in South Africa 13 years ago.
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Speaking during a recent episode of the Global Football Insights with Oliseh podcast, Oliseh, who had the pleasure of sharing the pitch with Keshi during the 1994 AFCON and FIFA World Cup waxed lyrical in praise of the ‘Big Boss’ as he was fondly called by teammates.
“He led by example. If they say everybody has to wear a green shirt he would wear a green shirt. He had discipline and that’s the kind of person he was, he was a winner,” Oliseh said.
“He was a man that made it clear to everybody that he has a family to feed and I want to earn money, and if you are not participating I will lose money. So that was how Keshi acted.
“We didn’t doubt his quality as a player because you saw how he played. This man was the first superstar of Nigerian football. At one point, even when Nigeria went for the Nations Cup, Keshi will be flying in from Belgium into the AFCON, play and go back to play for his club after the game.
“That was how huge his personality was, and Nigeria was funding it, otherwise you didn’t have your best player playing. We all saw that as kids watching television so we knew that this was a superstar and his teammates accepted it.”
Unfortunately, Keshi passed away aged 54 after suffering a cardiac arrest in June 2016.
