It’s not news that several European teams parted ways with their respective managers in the middle of the 2019/2020 football season. Due to subpar performances, they faced the inevitable firing. Consequently, replacement managers are then appointed. Over the course of several years, however, a lot of the replacements have been overwhelmingly European, with a bulk of them underwhelming and under-qualified (Mikel Arteta replacing Unai Emery at Arsenal, Thierry Henry replacing Leonardo Jardim at Monaco, Gary Neville replacing Voro at Valencia, need I say more?). To avoid underperforming clubs from changing managers every few months, it’s about time for European clubs to look into an untapped market of managers: African managers.

I thought Arsenal was going to make that unconventional move when they had Patrick Vieira as one of their serious candidates after Unai Emery was sacked. Although not entirely unconventional (considering Vieira played and captained the Gunners and is a club legend) he was born in Senegal and would have been the first African-born manager to coach in the English Premier League. Fortunately for Vieira, he already has a post in Europe as manager of OGC Nice in Ligue 1. But here are three African coaches (that have coached an African national team) I believe deserve a shot in Europe:

Florent Ibengé

DRC Head Coach (2014-2019)

The Congolese manager served as head coach of the Democratic Republic of Congo team while coaching local club AS Vita. Under Ibengé, the Leopards finished third in AFCON in 2015 while encountering a tough qualifying group with Cameroon and Cote d’Ivoire en route to the tournament. They may have had an easy path to the semi-finals in that tournament (finishing second in a group with Tunisia, Zambia, and Cape Verde and facing Congo in the Quarter-Finals) but since that tournament, they’ve demonstrated consistent performances in the subsequent AFCON tournaments.

DRC has advanced from the group stages in three straight tournaments, the first time in the nation’s history. Also under Ibengé, DRC won the 2016 African Nations Championship. Ibengé stepped down from national team duties in August of 2019 but still maintains his managerial role with AS Vita, a team in which he has won two league titles. Looking at his five-year tenure with the national team, he brought a period of unprecedented success and stability to the DRC national football team. Teams in Europe that require short-term stability (whether to survive relegation or gain promotion) I think he would fit well with the following teams: AFC Bournemouth, AJ Auxerre.

Djamel Belmadi

Algeria Head Coach (2018-present)

The current 2019 AFCON Champions were managed by the 43-year-old Algerian Djamel Belmadi. He had a prominent playing career, playing for PSG, Manchester City FC, Olympique de Marseille, and Southampton FC to name a few. His managerial career began in Qatar with Al-Duhail Sports Club (also known as Lekhwiya SC), serving two terms with the club and managed the Qatar national team in between. In total, he has about five years of managerial experience.

With Al-Duhail, he won the domestic league his first two seasons in 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons. After his mediocre stint with the Qatar national team, he rejoined Al Duhail in 2015 and won the league in the 2016-17 and 2017-18 seasons. Nine months after he was appointed Algeria manager, the Desert Warriors won the AFCON, their first title in nearly 30 years. He is a proven winner and seemingly doesn’t need much time to adjust in order to develop a winning culture. For a guy who has had experience playing in Europe, I think he would be a good candidate for the following teams: Toulouse FC, AS Saint-Étienne, Southampton FC.

Aliou Cissé

Senegal Head Coach (2015-present)

The Senegalese manager served as an assistant manager from 2010-2015, with most of the years spent with the Senegal national team. He has been in charge of the senior team going on five years now, formally appointed March 5, 2015. In the 2017 AFCON, his first AFCON as manager, the Lions of Teranga went to the quarterfinals after finishing first in their group over Tunisia, Algeria, and Zimbabwe. They lost to eventual champions Cameroon in a penalty shootout.  Senegal finished runners-up in the 2019 AFCON tournament, their joint highest finish since the 2002 AFCON. Under Cissé, he took them to their second-ever World Cup in 2018 (the last appearance was in 2002 when they upset France and Sweden, a historic Senegal team which he played on).

Although he hasn’t won any trophy as a manager, Senegal has made great strides under his tenure. For someone who played their professional career in Europe (prominently for PSG, Birmingham City, and Portsmouth FC) I think he would have been a good fit for AS Monaco after Jardim was sacked before hiring Henry. Or if he was to get his feet wet in England and implement a rebuild for a team that once had a significant presence in the Premier League but are not currently in it, I think Birmingham City (his former club) or Fulham (generous for having African players in the past like Kagisho Dikgacoi, Jean Michel Seri, and his compatriot Papa Bouba Diop) would be a great team. To summarize, these are the teams he would be a good fit for: AS Monaco, Birmingham City, Fulham FC.

Mikel Arteta, Thierry Henry, and Gary Neville have amassed a total of zero titles in their managerial career after being appointed head coaches to high-profile clubs as their first football managerial job. They have no proven track record, except for serving glorified assistant management positions. It’s time to look to Africa for successful managers that actually have concrete managerial experience. Ibengé, Belmadi, and Cissé deserve a shot in the top leagues in European football. They don’t need to make that move to be considered elite coaches, but I do hope they are at least considered for these jobs. If a European coach of an African team can get a European job following their success with their respective African team (i.e. the Frenchman Hervé Rénard joining FC Sochaux and Lille OSC after coaching Zambia and Cameroon) I don’t see why an African manager cannot have the same opportunity. However, for the sake of African football, I would be more than happy if they stayed in the continent.