Ghana’s Chris Hughton and Gambia’s Tom Saintfiet have both left their role as head coaches after their countries respective Africa Cup of Nations exits.
Saintfiet’s Gambia had Cameroon on the brink of a group-stage exit but the Indomitable Lions but two late goals in the 87th and 91st minute saved them some blushes.
After the match, Saintfiet resigned after six years in charge of the Scorpions. Saintfiet took over when the Gambia were sitting in 168th spot in the FIFA rankings and hadn’t won a competitive game in five years.
The former Free State Stars coach, though, wrote history with Gambia and qualified for the 2021 AFCON – their first ever participation. At the tournament, the Scorpions were the lowest-ranked team but made it out of the group after beating Mauritania 1-0, drawing 1-1 with Mali before beating Tunisia 1-0.
They also beat Guinea in the Last 16 1-0, but were stopped in the quarter-final by a 2-0 defeat to Cameroon. The 2023 AFCON was only Gambia’s second in history, but this time they lost all three group-stage matches.
Overall, Saintfeit won 18 of his 43 games in charge, drawing nine and losing 16. He also moved Gambia from 168th in the FIFA ranking to 126th.
Not much of the same can be said about Chris Hughton’s reign with the Black Stars. He took over from Otto Addo after the 2022 FIFA World Cup after previously already holding some advisory role.
He’s only won four of his 12 games in charge, drawing four and losing four – with Monday’s 2-2 draw with Mozambique ensuring Ghana would not make the knockout stages in successive AFCONs.
As a consequence, the Ghana FA have announced Hughton’s sacking in the early hours of Wednesday morning.