Ndubuisi Egbo, the first African coach to win a topflight league in Europe and play in the UCL, talks about his challenges despite his heroics in Albania, his dismissal by the club , racism , and his desire to fulfil Pele ’ s prophesy for African football.

You made history as the first African to lead a European team Tirana to a topflight league title in Albania last season. How difficult was it achieving that feat?
I would say it was a dream accomplished because I ’m someone who has been fighting for years for African coaches to be recognised, especially in Europe. That was my dream when I finished playing football and went into coaching because I wanted to give back to the society the experiences that I had garnered and also learning from the best. I was coached by wonderful coaches starting from Nigeria, where I had Christian Chukwu, Joe Erico, Lawrence Akpokona and many others. Then I went to Egypt and I was coached by some world -class coaches and also here in Albania.
Were you thinking of winning the league title with Tirana, when the 2019/ 20 season started ?
Nobody expected that , but this is the biggest team in the country and it is a club that want the team to always fight to win the league. The club didn ’t win the championship for 11 years, the owner of the club tried to make the team to strong so that we would be able to win the league because it was the centenary celebration of the club and a trophy would be an icing on the cake. We started in a good way being in the second position , but started having bad results and we were in the eighth position , which was the relegation zone because it was a 10-team championship.
At what point did you and your players started dreaming of winning the title?
When I took over, my first game was against our archrivals, FK Partizani Tirana, and it was the biggest game in the country because we hadn ’t won against them in six years. The maximum we ’ ve gotten was a draw and we lost the majority of the games we played against them. It was my first game and when we won that game I had a feeling that something big was going to happen and I put my faith in God to crown all our efforts . The atmosphere around the team after our first win , I saw where we were going and we ended up winning seven straight games, which was something that had not happened in that team for a very long time. We played 16 games unbeaten and that was also something that the club had not been able to achieve in over 30 years. We broke so many records last year, scored many goals ; we won on the ground where many teams had not won before . There was nothing we didn’ t do last season to win the championship .
Why do you think African coaches are not highly regarded in Europe despite their qualifications?
This is a big problem that Africans have had for more than 400 years. It is a concept that has been planted into Africans’ mentality. We were taught that the whites are better than us and that we are good for nothing . They made us believe that the black folks cannot be anywhere near the white guys and we accepted such notions. I always say I don’ t blame the whites anymore because we blacks are our own problems. We’ ve decided to accept what other people are saying about us and that means we are already finished . I won the championship here in Albania but if I had to start mentioning all the challenges that I went through , even the white guys cannot go through such difficulties . Our colour is a big problem for us and until we start to remove that mindset from our head, we can never improve or excel. We keep saying we are never given the opportunity but we need to realise that most of the clubs are owned by the whites and that is where the problem is because they will always employ the white folks because they trust their own. It is high time that African millionaires or people buying football clubs start giving the black coach the platform and the opportunity to do something. Chelsea ’s Frank Lampard has lost so many matches but he is still there. But if he was a person of colour who lost a maximum two games, he would have been out just as I was removed from my team after winning the championship after 11 years and in celebration of the club ’s 100 years. I ’ ve seen a Nigerian woman buy a club in Portugal; this is where it will start from . We need to start giving our own coaches the opportunities to prove their talents and also time because we will make mistakes in the beginning and we will learn. Just like they are giving opportunity and time to ( Super Eagles coach ) Gernot Rohr; after five years he has not won any major trophy and he is still there. But Emmanuel Amuneke and Sunday Oliseh were not given enough time.

Winning the Albanian league qualified Tirana for the Champions League preliminary stage and you won your first game against Georgian side Dinamo Tbilisi . What was the dressing room scenario like after the victory?
Dinamo Tbilisi are a bigger team than us and nobody believed that we were going to beat them because they’ ve played about 10 games in their league , while we were just resuming. We were like the underdogs against them and when we won nobody in Albania or even the management believed it because it was an away game. After the game, the dressing room was bubbling with celebration because we couldn’ t believe what happened . Though, I had confidence and faith in my team that we could go there and win .
Your celebrations were cut short by Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade in the next round. How did you take that defeat ?
Despite losing that game, the whole of the country are still talking about it. Even the Red Star Belgrade coach and players were baffled how we played them because there was no chance when you compare the two teams together. Even though we lost that game, we had more chances than Belgrade but unfortunately, our players couldn’ t utilise the chances and we went out of the competition but with our heads held high because we gave a wonderful and performance in that game.
What were the lessons you learnt from the competition?
I won’ t say I learnt much but I learnt that if you believe, then everything is possible . We showed it in the way we played . If we had done much more preparation , we would have won more games. I even talked to the owners of my team in Albania that everything is possible when it is a one- game affair, but when it is a double - game, the underdog usually wins. This was the lesson we learnt , which is how to play against big clubs and use counter -attacks against them and the boys believed in themselves that if they played with confidence, they could win any game .
Were you sacked as Tirana manager because of poor results?
Well , I would say that they used the result as an excuse for sacking me and tilL now, many people in Albania are surprised . As we speak, the club is in the sixth position in the league because the team has been playing draws and losing games. In some sports programmes here, many callers asked that why did they sack a coach who had done great for the club , a coach who won the championship after 11 years. There are many things involved but there are many things that I cannot speak of on -air . I was even going to resign anyway after winning the league. I ’m not a coward, I ’m a winner . There are many who said ‘ Ndubuisi does not have experience ’ and all that . Meanwhile , we proved them all wrong by winning the championship and also qualifying for the Champions League . They thought I would lose . They had planned to sack me but because the team was doing great then, they waited for the right opportunity . There are many things involved which many people are not even aware of . There are many people who were surprised that a man who brought you out of the last rungs of Albanian club to the top side of Albanian football was treated that way . Even on TV , I always try to play it cool. I do things with an open mind. Like I said , I have worked with top managers of teams and I believe in myself , in what I can do. I learnt from them, their mistakes, their strengths and their mismanagements . I used that to train the boys , made sure that the mistakes that the top managers made, I corrected them and there was harmony in the team . I only used players who deserved to be on the field and put them in their right positions and everything became like magic. People were wondering what I changed and I said I didn ’t change anything and that I just did the simple things that needed to be done . Those were the things that happened and that ’s why I ’m here talking to you about what brought about my not being with the team anymore.
Did your removal go down well with the players?
Most of them are not happy because I keep getting feedback from the people still working in the team and they said some of the players are still complaining that when I was there things were not the way they are now because they are in the sixth position .
Have you been a victim of racism?
I ’ve been asked that question before. Maybe after this interview, some people will take that point and say ‘Egbo said that Albanians are racists. ’ I ’ ve been well respected here, Albanians are good and great people . This place is like my second home. Like in Nigeria, this is the example that I always give them. In my country , we have very good people and we have bad people . It is the same thing here in Albania. So if people of these nature exist, then , there would be racists in Albania . You can go to my web page and see what some people have written. I don ’ t need to tell you, just go there. You will see what has been written about me. I don ’ t need to say it with my mouth. If racism is in the US , UK and other parts of the world , then you would have some people who have such mindset here . There are some people in Nigeria who don’ t also like white people. There are some villages here where they have never seen a black man before . The first time I came in 2001, they were looking at me as if I fell down from the sky . They were all curious about me. But now, things are changing. Now, I can walk around and nobody cares about my skin colour. We keep talking about it. If we keep silent , then everyone feels it’ s alright but as we talk about it, there would be a change . So, the issue of racism is here too.

If the Nigeria Football Federation hands you the Super Eagles coaching job, will you accept?
Like I have said in many interviews, it is like a military service that you do for your country. When you are called upon you don ’ t have any choice, unless I ’ m in a contract with another team and it is difficult to go away from there. I ’ m always open to help my country because I’ m a dreamer and I always want `to achieve something to fulfil those dreams that I had . I always remember what Pele said that he dreamt that one day an African country would win the World Cup . I’ m seeing Nigeria winning the World Cup . That is one of the dreams I want to achieve for my continent. Anytime I ’ m called upon, I still have it in my head that if I am given the opportunity I will do my maximum best not only to make Nigerian football but African football move ahead . Just like Pitso Mosimane of South Africa is doing , he won with Sundowns and then went to Egypt and won the CAF Champions League with Al Ahly . Those are the things that we need to be doing to move African football up . Al Ahly is the club of the century in the whole world and that is something coming from Africa . I ’ve won one trophy on a continent, why not winning the World Cup or at least get to the final first of all . If we want European clubs to take a look at our players, we need to bring them up to their level and achieve what they are achieving, then we can measure our strengths with theirs.

source: https://punchng.com/i-want-to-fulfil-peles-prophecy-by-winning-world-cup-for-africa-egbo/

It is difficult but not impossible.

Never say never.

It's possible only if the western world are sleeping or are on drip. The major reason why Africa never win world cup is because we don't plan ahead... All these countries winning it training for years ahead of the tournament. But Africa will only prepare few months to the tournament and u won win.... This is not few to them.... This is not mathematics oo... It's legwork not shanku ooo

I think Egbo is joking

I love his dreams even if its too impossible...
i dnt see nigeria or any African country winning it in the next 2 decades because the football association are too corrupt to develop them..
all they know is to share FIFA stipends among themselves than using it to develop the grassroots