June 13, 2006
THE PFISTER FILE
How Togo coach was hired, another was fired

German Otto Pfister is Togo's third coach since the start of qualifying.

He replaced Nigerian Stephen Keshi on Feb. 22. Keshi, 43, had guided Togo into the World Cup, but was severely criticized after the team lost all three its opening-round matches at the 2006 African Nations Cup and he had a major row with striker Emmanuel Sheyi Adebayor. Ironically, Keshi became the first foreigner to be awarded the country's most prestigious honor, the Grand Commandeur dans l'Ordre du Mérite,, last October.

Pfister coached six African National Teams -- Rwanda, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Senegal, the Ivory Coast, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) and Ghana -- and clubs in Tunisia and Egypt. He also directed the Ghanan Under-17 team to the world championship.

Pfister, 68, knows the feeling of being replaced as a coach of a national team he had guided into the Cup. The same thing happened to him in 1997, when he took over as Saudi Arabia coach for Tigo Vingada during qualifying on October 12 of that year before eventually stepping down as coach weeks later.

Pfister signed a short-term contract with Togo, which could be extended if "the results are good," said Togolese Football Federation president Commander Rock Gnassingbe.

The way the Togolese Football Federation handled the transition was questionable and contradictory at best.
Keshi's firing was announced on Togo National Television, although Gnassingbe denied it. Keshi, who had been named 2005 African coach of the year a week prior, told BBC Sport that he was still coach. "I have not been told by anyone at the Togolese football federation that I have lost my job and I remain in Togo to honor my contractual obligations to them." But two days later federation secretary general Espoir Assogbavi told the BBC that the press reports were accurate.