 Pfister in 2013 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | (1937-11-24)24 November 1937 (age 87) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Cologne, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Striker | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1957–1958 | Viktoria Köln | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1958–1959 | VfL Köln 99 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1959–1960 | Chiasso | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1960–1961 | Grenchen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1961–1963 | Vaduz | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1963–1966 | St. Gallen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1966–1968 | Nordstern Basel | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1968–1969 | Moutier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1969–1972 | Chur 97 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Managerial career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1972–1976 | Rwanda | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1976–1978 | Upper Volta | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1979–1982 | Senegal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1982–1985 | Ivory Coast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985–1989 | Zaire | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1992–1993 | Ghana | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1995–1997 | Bangladesh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997–1998 | Saudi Arabia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 | Saudi Arabia (Olympic) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Saudi Arabia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999–2002 | Zamalek | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2002–2004 | CS Sfaxien | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Nejmeh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005 | Al Masry | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 | Togo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006–2007 | Al Merrikh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007–2009 | Cameroon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Trinidad and Tobago | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2014 | Al Merrikh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | USM Alger | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2017–2018 | Afghanistan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Otto Martin Pfister (born 24 November 1937) is a German formerfootball manager and one of Germany's most successful coaching exports, voted Africa'sManager of the Year in 1992.[1] He is formerly the manager of theAfghanistan national team.[2]
Pfister has been involved inassociation football for almost 60 years, he began his coaching career in Switzerland as player-coach in 1961 at the age of just 23. Pfister's early coaching experience was gained withFC Vaduz,FC St. Gallen,FC Nordstern Basel,FC Moutier and finallyFC Chur 97.[3] He has worked as head coach for 10 international football teams, eight from Africa and two from Asia. In June 1972, at the age of 34, Pfister retired from his playing days and left Switzerland for Africa, taking the reins as the head coach ofRwanda. Pfister would stay in Africa for 23 years until 1995 working as the head coach for five other African Nations.Upper Volta (nowBurkina Faso),Senegal,Ivory Coast,Zaire (nowDR Congo) andGhana. Among his achievements include winning the JVC Fifa U17 Junior World Cup with Ghana in Ital In 1995, Pfister worked inside the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as the head coach ofBangladesh National Team and alsoSaudi Arabia from 1997 - 1999. Pfister returned to club football over the following six years with Egyptian teamZamalek, Tunisian clubCS Sfaxien, Lebanese clubNejmeh and Egyptian clubAl-Masry. Pfister was selected as the head coach ofTogo on 18 February 2006, after former coachStephen Keshi was dismissed from the post despite having secured qualification for their firstWorld Cup Finals.[4] Pfister himself resigned shortly before the team's first match in the tournament, after his players went on strike against the federation over a pay dispute,[5] but he was reappointed three days later after demands from the players.[6] Pfister was appointed manager of Sudanese clubAl-Merreikh on 8 September 2006 and would later leave this position on 26 October 2007. The following day Pfister would sign a contract as the head coach ofCameroon taking him through until 2010.As of 24 March 2011 Pfister was unveiled as head coach ofTrinidad and Tobago.[7] In February 2014, at the age of 76, he made a return to the head coach of Al-Merreikh, a team he had previously guided to the final of the2007 CAF Confederation Cup.[8]
Between 1976 and 1978, Pfister changed the face of football inBurkina Faso. They were known as theUpper Volta national football team until 1984, whenUpper Volta became Burkina Faso. The establishment in Burkina Faso welcomed the German coach and because of the natural interest in football, the Government's commitment and Pfister's ability, theBurkina Faso national team qualified for their first everAfrican Cup of Nations in 1978 inGhana. It was the success with the Burkina team that opened the way for Pfister to traverse Africa, theMiddle East, and Asia over the following years since his first landing in Africa.
In 1982, Pfister became coach of theIvory Coast national team. He repaid his new employers’ confidence in him by taking the country's youth team to the1983 FIFA World Youth Championship in Mexico. They would not qualify to the quarter-finals, however, Pfister would win the U19African Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast in 1983.
Pfister took over as head coach ofCongo DR national football team (formerly theZaire national football team) in 1985, where he would spend four years helping to restore the 1974 African champions to their former glories. Pfister was responsible for unleashing a new generation of ‘Leopards’, includingEugene Kabongo,Gaston Mobati, Panguy Merikani and Mutumbile Santos, all of whom took part in theAfrican Cup of Nations 1988.
Pfister led Ghana to a famous win in the 1991FIFA U-17 World Championship. The Championship was held in the cities ofFlorence,Montecatini Terme,Viareggio,Massa,Carrara, andLivorno in Italy between 16 and 31 August 1991. Ghana finished second to Spain in their group and progressed to the Quarter-finals where they beat Brazil 2–1 with goals fromMohammed Gargo andNii Lamptey. After a 0–0 draw with Qatar in the Semi-finals, Ghana won 4–2 in a penalty shoot-out, lining up a final against Spain. On 31 August 1991, Ghana beat Spain 1–0 in the World Cup final in Florence, Ghana's first title.
TheGhana national team qualified for the 1992African Cup of Nations after finishing top of their qualifying group. Ghana qualified to the Quarter-finals after two 1–0 victories overEgypt andZambia in the first round of the final tournament. Ghana beatCongo to take them through to the Semi-finals where they beatNigeria, 2–1. On 26 January 1992 inSenegal, Ghana played Ivory Coast in the final of theAfrican Cup of Nations. After extra time the final score was 0–0 and the game entered penalties. After a marathon penalty shootout, Ivory Coast finally won 11–10 on penalties. The penalty shootout was significant in that it was the first in the final of a major international tournament that every player on the pitch took a penalty.
During Pfister's time with Ghana, he was observed numerous times not wearing a belt, and thus consequently, he wore his trousers very low. This gave rise to the term "Otto Pfister" within Ghanaian popular slang culture. "Otto Pfister" in this regard has come to mean someone sagging their trousers in Ghanaian youth fashion.
Pfister became the head coach ofSaudi Arabia in 1997 after previously working in theAFC from 1995 to 1997 withBangladesh.[9] In 1997, Pfister successfully guided Saudi Arabia to the1998 FIFA World Cup in France but was crudely released just before the tournament because he requested theSaudi Princes to interfere less in team affairs. After Saudi Arabia lost their opening two games and failed to progress,Carlos Alberto Parreira was fired and Pfister was reinstated as head coach on completion of the tournament. AsWorld Cup Qualifiers, Saudi Arabia automatically qualified for the1998 Arab Nations Cup. With the help of an impressive 8 goals in 4 games fromObeid Al-Dosari, Saudi Arabia were crowned champions after beatingQatar 3–1 in the final. Despite being the only team not to lose a game, Saudi Arabia also finished as runners-up in the14th Arabian Gulf Cup inBahrain.
Pfister was highly successful during his time atZamalek SC. During his time as head coach (1999–2002) Pfister won an impressive five trophies. On 10 December 2000, Zamalek recorded a convincing 4–3 aggregate score in the second-leg final againstCanon Yaoundé in theAfrican Cup Winners' Cup (now theConfederations Cup). The first time for the Egyptian team. Pfister led Zamalek for their worst defeat against rivalsAl Ahly 6–1 on 16 May 2002, Zamalek also reached the final of theCAF Super Cup, losing 2–0 toAccra Hearts of Oak SC.
Pfister was appointed as Manager ofNejmeh SC in theLebanon for the 2004–05 season. After 19 games, Nejmeh were joint top of the2004–05 Lebanese Premier League withAl-Ansar Club. Both teams needed to win the final match, which incidentally was against each other. The final result was 2–2 and Pfister's Nejmeh were crowned champions as they had a highly superior goal difference. Pfister secured qualification to the2005 AFC Cup for Nejmeh (which they would eventually finish as runners-up). Pfister also won theLebanese Super Cup andLebanese Elite Cup with Nejmeh during the 2004–05 season.
Pfister was selected to lead theTogo national team three months before World Cup 2006 afterStephen Keshi was sacked. Prior to theWorld Cup, players went on strike because they wanted ducks. Faced with the rebellion over ducks, Pfister walked out, saying people want ducks. Pfister was reinstated three days later after demands from players and FTF staff.
Sports commentators such asEd Kavalee ensured that this dispute was resolved with a high level of transparency, with countries as far away as Australia receiving constant Pfister updates.
Togo lost their opening game of theWorld Cup, despite having taken the lead againstSouth Korea through a goal byMohamed Kader. In the second half,Jean-Paul Abalo was sent off after 55 minutes, and goals fromLee Chun-Soo andAhn Jung-Hwan sealed a 2–1 defeat for Togo. Togo's next opponents in Group G were Switzerland, with the match scheduled for the afternoon of 19 June. However, the Togo squad threatened to refuse to fulfil the fixture and take strike action against unpaid bonuses.FIFA negotiated with the squad on 17 June, persuading them to travel toDortmund in time to fulfil the fixture; goals fromAlexander Frei andTranquillo Barnetta resulted in a 2–0 defeat. Togo's final group game againstFrance ended in 2–0 defeat.
On 27 October 2007, Pfister was appointed the manager ofCameroon, succeeding 80 other candidates.[10] He coachedCameroon in the2008 African Cup of Nations, held inGhana. Two second half goals fromSamuel Eto'o were not enough to win their opening game which finished 4–2 toEgypt. Cameroon picked themselves up four days later and beatZambia convincingly 5–1. In their final group game Eto'o again scored twice as Les Lions Indomptables won 3–0. After finishing second to Egypt in the group stages, Cameroon progressed to the Quarter-finals where, after a close encounter, they beatTunisia 3–2.Stéphane Mbia scored early in extra time to take the Indomptable Lions through to the Semi-finals.Alain N'Kong scored a 72nd-minute winner for Cameroon in a 1–0 win overGhana in the Semi-finals, taking Cameroon to their sixth final of theAfrican Cup of Nations. On 10 February 2008, Cameroon took on defending champions Egypt in the Final inAccra. Egypt scored a 77th-minute goal throughMohamed Aboutrika which would be enough to win the match and be crowned the champions of the 2008 African Cup of Nations. Eto'o was the tournaments highest scorer with five goals. Pfister stepped down from his role on 26 May 2009.
In January 2015, Pfister was linked withAlgerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 clubUSM Alger, and signed a contract with the club shortly after.[11][12] On 18 May Pfister was sacked as coach of USM Alger.[13]
Pfister gained his coaching certificates inMagglingen in the 1960s, and later studied further inCologne. Pfister is aUEFA Pro License holder, has aBundesliga license for professional football coaching and is an Instructor forFIFA andGerman Football Association professional football coaching courses.
In 2001, Pfister was awarded theOrder of Merit of theConfederation of African Football as well as aGerman Football Federation Honors Award.
In Ghana the slang "Rules with an Iron-Pfister" is often used to refer to his coaching style.
During his time inGhana, Pfister's fame transcended football. His unconventional style of wearing his trousers on the hip, rather than the waist, has become a fashion trend among the youth.
Commenting thatTony Yeboah's birthday can not be determined exactly,Ghana's then-manager Otto Pfister said: There's only one way to find out: saw his leg off and count the rings!
Cameroon
Al Merrikh
Nejmeh
CS Sfaxien
Zamalek
Saudi Arabia
Bangladesh
Ghana
Ghana U-17
Ivory Coast
Individual
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| P | W | D | L | Win % | |||||
| Vaduz |  | 1961 | 1963 | 50 | 24 | 8 | 18 | 048.00 | |
| St. Gallen | | 1963 | 1966 | 86 | 44 | 16 | 26 | 051.16 | |
| Nordstern Basel | | 1966 | 1968 | 55 | 17 | 15 | 23 | 030.91 | |
| Moutier | | 1968 | 1969 | 25 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 024.00 | |
| Chur 97 | | 1969 | 1972 | 59 | 28 | 9 | 22 | 047.46 | |
| Zamalek |  | 1999 | 2002 | 53 | 42 | 6 | 5 | 079.25 | |
| CS Sfaxien |  | 2002 | 2004 | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 040.00 | |
| Nejmeh |  | 2004 | 2005 | 26 | 20 | 4 | 2 | 076.92 | |
| Al Masry | | 2005 | 2005 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 025.00 | |
| Al Merrikh |  | 2006 | 2007 | 27 | 17 | 5 | 5 | 062.96 | |
| Al Merrikh | | 2014 | 2014 | 15 | 10 | 4 | 1 | 066.67 | |
| USM Alger |  | 2015 | 2015 | 13 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 023.08 | |
| Total | 599 | 302 | 128 | 169 | 050.42 | ||||
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||
| Rwanda |  | 1 October 1972 | 31 July 1976 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 20 | −17 | 000.00 |
| Burkina Faso |  | 1 August 1976 | 31 December 1978 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 000.00 |
| Senegal |  | 1 January 1979 | 31 October 1982 | 38 | 19 | 8 | 11 | 47 | 33 | +14 | 050.00 |
| Ivory Coast |  | 1 November 1982 | 31 August 1985 | 34 | 16 | 12 | 6 | 46 | 26 | +20 | 047.06 |
| Ivory Coast U19 | | 1 November 1982 | 31 August 1985 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 27 | 11 | +16 | 057.14 |
| Zaire |  | 1 August 1985 | 31 August 1989 | 34 | 8 | 14 | 12 | 32 | 29 | +3 | 023.53 |
| Ghana U17 |  | 1 September 1989 | 1 September 1991 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 | 21 | 9 | +12 | 060.00 |
| Ghana | | 1 September 1991 | 31 December 1993 | 21 | 13 | 3 | 5 | 28 | 21 | +7 | 061.90 |
| Bangladesh |  | 1 January 1995 | 31 March 1997 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 9 | 20 | −11 | 028.57 |
| Saudi Arabia |  | 14 October 1997 | 17 December 1997 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 11 | −6 | 037.50 |
| Saudi Arabia | | 1 July 1998 | 12 November 1998 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 8 | +19 | 081.82 |
| Zamalek | | 2 December 1999 | 30 June 2002 | 97 | 62 | 24 | 11 | 190 | 92 | +98 | 063.92 |
| Togo |  | 18 February 2006 | 31 August 2006 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 014.29 |
| Cameroon |  | 26 October 2007 | 28 May 2009 | 15 | 10 | 1 | 4 | 35 | 15 | +20 | 066.67 |
| Trinidad and Tobago |  | 4 April 2011 | 31 December 2012 | 22 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 43 | 16 | +27 | 059.09 |
| Afghanistan |  | 6 February 2017 | 31 March 2018 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −3 | 033.33 |
| Career total | 347 | 178 | 84 | 85 | 530 | 347 | +183 | 051.30 | |||
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Otto Pfister international tournaments | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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