Stephen Keshi Dies

Nigerian football legend, Stephen Keshi, has died at the young age of 54 after an alleged heart attack on Wednesday morning.

According to Keshi’s brother – who was also his manager – Emmanuel Ado, it is believed that he passed away in the early hours of Wednesday morning of a heart attack. He died in Benin City in Nigeria.

Ado released a statement to the media, saying that he has passed and had gone to “be with his wife”. Keshi’s wife passed away in December of last year and Ado said that Keshi had been in mourning ever since:

“…Our son, brother, father, father-in-law, brother-in-law, has gone to be with his wife of 35 years Mrs Kate Keshi, who passed on the 9th of December 2015…Since her death, Keshi has been in mourning. He came back to Nigeria to be with her. He had planned to fly back [to the US] today, before he suffered a cardiac arrest. He has found rest. We thank God for his life.,” a part of his statement read.

Keshi was seen as one of the best football player and coaches in Africa as well as the world. He became famous after he helped Nigeria in their debut performance in the FIFA World Cup in 1994.

He also played in five different African Cup of Nations tournaments and captained the Super Eagles in their success in the tournament in 1994.

Besides playing for his home country of Nigeria, he also played football professionally for the US, France, Belgium, Malaysia and Ivory Coast.

After he ended his playing career, he became a very successful manager, helping the Super Eagles win the African Cup of Nations in 2013.

He also helped Nigeria get to the top 16 in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Besides being the national coach for Nigeria, he also coached national teams for Togo and Mali.