Otto Pfister

Otto Pfister
	Pfister in 2013
Personal information
Date of birth	24 November 1937 (age 87)
Place of birth	Cologne, Germany
Position(s)	Striker
Senior career*
Years	Team
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
Men's football (as manager)
Representing Ghana
Africa Cup of Nations
FIFA U-17 World Championship
Representing Cameroon
Africa Cup of Nations
Representing Saudi Arabia
FIFA Arab Cup
Arabian Gulf Cup
Representing Ivory Coast
West African Nations Cup
ECOWAS Cup
Representing Senegal
Amílcar Cabral Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Otto Martin Pfister (born 24 November 1937) is a German football manager and one of Germany's most successful coaching exports, voted Africa's Manager of the Year in 1992.^[1] He is formerly the manager of the Afghanistan national team.^[2]

Coaching career

Pfister has been involved in

Al-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 of Cameroon

taking him through until 2010. As of 24 March 2011 Pfister was unveiled as head coach of Trinidad 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 the 2007 CAF Confederation Cup.^[8]

Burkina Faso

Between 1976 and 1978, Pfister changed the face of football in

African Cup of Nations in 1978 in Ghana. It was the success with the Burkina team that opened the way for Pfister to traverse Africa, the Middle East

, and Asia over the following years since his first landing in Africa.

Ivory Coast

In 1982, Pfister became coach of the

African Cup of Nations

with Ivory Coast in 1983.

Zaire

Pfister took over as head coach of

African Cup of Nations

1988.

Ghana

Pfister led Ghana to a famous win in the 1991

FIFA U-17 World Championship. The Championship was held in the cities of Florence, Montecatini Terme, Viareggio, Massa, Carrara, and Livorno 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 from Mohammed Gargo and Nii 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.

The

African 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.

Saudi Arabia

Pfister became the head coach of

1998 Arab Nations Cup. With the help of an impressive 8 goals in 4 games from Obeid Al-Dosari, Saudi Arabia were crowned champions after beating Qatar 3–1 in the final. Despite being the only team not to lose a game, Saudi Arabia also finished as runners-up in the 14th Arabian Gulf Cup in Bahrain

.

Zamalek

Pfister was highly successful during his time at

Accra Hearts of Oak SC

.

Nejmeh

Pfister was appointed as Manager of

Al-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 the 2005 AFC Cup for Nejmeh (which they would eventually finish as runners-up). Pfister also won the Lebanese Super Cup and Lebanese Elite Cup

with Nejmeh during the 2004–05 season.

Togo

Pfister was selected to lead the Togo national team three months before World Cup 2006 after Stephen Keshi was sacked. Prior to the World Cup, players went on strike because of unpaid bonuses. Faced with the rebellion over bonuses, Pfister walked out, saying he could take no more. Pfister was reinstated three days later after demands from players and FTF staff.

Sports commentators such as Ed 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 the

Ahn 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 to Dortmund in time to fulfil the fixture; goals from Alexander Frei and Tranquillo Barnetta resulted in a 2–0 defeat. Togo's final group game against France

ended in 2–0 defeat.

Cameroon

On 27 October 2007, Pfister was appointed the manager of

African Cup of Nations. On 10 February 2008, Cameroon took on defending champions Egypt in the Final in Accra. Egypt scored a 77th-minute goal through Mohamed 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.

USM Alger

In January 2015, Pfister was linked with Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 club USM Alger, and signed a contract with the club shortly after.^[11]^[12] On 18 May Pfister was sacked as coach of USM Alger.^[13]

Personal life

Pfister gained his coaching certificates in

UEFA Pro License holder, has a Bundesliga license for professional football coaching and is an Instructor for FIFA and German Football Association

professional football coaching courses.

In 2001, Pfister was awarded the

German 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 in Ghana, 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 that Tony 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!

Honours

Cameroon

Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 2008

Al Merrikh

Sudan Cup: 2007
CAF Confederation Cup runner-up: 2007

Nejmeh

2004–05
Lebanese Elite Cup: 2004
Lebanese Super Cup: 2004

CS Sfaxien

Tunisian Coupe de la Ligue Professionnelle: 2002–03

Zamalek

Saudi Arabia

Arab Cup: 1998

Bangladesh

Burma Tournament: 1995

Ghana

Africa Cup of Nations runner-up: 1992
FIFA U-17 World Championship
: 1991

Ivory Coast

U-19 Africa Cup of Nations: 1983

Individual

Africa's Manager of the Year: 1992

Managerial statistics

As of 1 July 2018

Nat	Team	From	To	Record
Nat	Team	From	To	P	W	D	L	Win %
	FC Vaduz	1961	1963	50	24	8	18	48.00
	FC St. Gallen	1963	1966	86	44	16	26	51.16
	FC Nordstern Basel	1966	1968	55	17	15	23	30.91
	FC Moutier	1968	1969	25	6	7	12	24.00
	FC Chur 97	1969	1972	59	28	9	22	47.46
	Rwanda	1972	1976					—
	Upper Volta	1976	1978					—
	Senegal	1979	1982	34	18	7	9	52.94
	Ivory Coast	1982	1985	30	15	11	4	50.00
	Zaire	1985	1989					c
	Ghana	1992	1993					—
	Bangladesh	1995	1997	18	6	2	10	33.33
	Saudi Arabia	1997	1998	31	16	9	6	51.61
	Saudi Arabia	1998	1999	14	11	2	1	78.57
	Al-Zamalek	1999	2002	53	42	6	5	079.25
	CS Sfaxien	2002	2004	30	12	9	9	040.00
	Nejmeh SC	2004	2005	26	20	4	2	076.92
	El-Masry	2005	2005	4	1	2	1	025.00
	Togo	2006	2006	5	1	0	4	020.00
	Al-Merrikh	2006	2007	27	17	5	5	062.96
	Cameroon	2007	2009	15	10	1	4	066.67
	Trinidad and Tobago	2011	2012	7	5	0	2	071.43
	Al-Merrikh	2014	2014	15	10	4	1	66.67
	USM Alger	2015	2015	13	3	7	3	23.08
	Afghanistan	2017	2018	9	3	3	3	33.33
Total				599	302	128	169	50.42