AFRICA’S biggest corpo­rate supporter of football, Globacom, has expressed shock over the sudden death of Mr. Stephen Okechukwu, the former Skipper and Coach of Nigerian National team, Super Eagles.

In a press statement in Lagos yesterday, Globa­com described his death as “a great loss not only to the Nigeria Football Community but the entire country”.

The company stated that Stephen Keshi made the nation proud in his lifetime, serving as the Skipper of the Super Eagles for many years and leading the team to win the African Cup of Na­tions in Tunisia in 1994 as well as to qualify for the first World Cup in USA.

Related News

Keshi also performed creditably well as the Coach of the Super Eagles, winning the 2013 African Cup of Nations in South Africa and setting an African record as “one of only two people, along with Egypt’s Mahmoud El-Gohary, to have won the African Cup of Na­tions both as a player and a coach, Globacom added.

He coached the Togo national football team, Les Eperviers (The Spar­row Hawks) between 2004 and 2006 and also qualified them for their first World Cup tourna­ment in Germany in 2006 while he worked as manager of the Mali national team, Les Aigles (The Eagles) after being appointed in April 2008 on a two -year deal.

Globacom stated further that “Nigeria has indeed lost an asset and a gem”.