CAF’s coaching education programme has delivered its largest expansion to date, with 19,685 coaches certified across the continent between 2021 and 2026. Those figures now form the operational backdrop to the CAF Strategy Conference running from 7 to 9 October in Sal, Cabo Verde.
The numbers, released ahead of the Conference, break down across the four levels of the CAF licensing pathway. The broadest output came at CAF C level, where 12,770 coaches were certified, creating a wide base from which candidates can progress. A further 4,846 received CAF B licences, 1,945 were certified at CAF A level, and 124 coaches obtained the elite CAF Pro licence.
The annual delivery figures show how quickly the programme scaled. Certification stood at 1,797 coaches in 2021, rose to 2,593 in 2022 and 3,746 in 2023, then peaked at 4,280 in 2024, the highest annual total of the period. Output stayed high in the final two years, with 3,938 coaches certified in 2025 and 3,331 in 2026. Taken together, the numbers point to a sustained build-out of formal coach education across CAF’s 54 Member Associations, aimed at producing a deeper pool of technically qualified staff at domestic, youth and senior international level.
Meanwhile, the delivery record is visible further up the system. Six of Africa’s 10 representatives at the FIFA World Cup 2026 were led by African coaches, a marked shift from 2010, when only one African coach was in charge of a team from the continent at the tournament. The progression was gradual: two African coaches in 2014 and again in 2018, then a breakthrough in 2022 when all five African representatives were coached by Africans. At the 2026 finals, with representation expanded to 10 teams, African coaches were central to campaigns including Senegal and other continental sides, and the tournament produced Africa’s strongest collective performance, with nine of the 10 representatives reaching the knockout stage.
Several of those coaches came through distinct development routes, from domestic African football to youth structures and national-team systems. Bubista guided Cabo Verde to their first World Cup and then took the debutants into the knockout stage. Emerse Faé led Cote d’Ivoire into the knockout rounds for the first time in their history, while Hossam Hassan led Egypt at the finals. The lineage traces back to Walid Regragui’s landmark 2022 achievement, when he became the first African coach to reach a World Cup semi-final by guiding Morocco into the last four.
For CAF, the link between investment away from the spotlight and results on the biggest stage is the core argument for continuing the programme. The Conference in Cabo Verde is designed to look beyond individual tournament outcomes and examine the structures that could make success sustainable. Coach education, licensing, knowledge-sharing and stronger pathways from domestic football into elite national-team management are all on the agenda, alongside an analysis of how Africa’s 10 representatives performed at the 2026 World Cup and how lessons from the tournament can be applied across all 54 Member Associations.
That analysis is expected to go beyond what teams did on the pitch. The Conference will also consider how coaches were prepared, how technical departments supported them, and how African football can keep producing coaches capable of competing at the highest level. National-team coaches and international football experts will join CAF and its Member Associations in those discussions, which will look ahead to the FIFA World Cup 2030.
The remaining challenge, as CAF presents it, is one of follow-through. The thousands of coaches now trained and certified need opportunities, continuing education and clear routes through youth, club and national-team football if the expanded pipeline is to keep feeding the elite level. The rise from one African World Cup coach in 2010 to six in 2026, alongside nearly 20,000 certifications in six years, suggests the investment is increasingly translating into opportunity at the top of the game. As attention turns towards 2030, the Strategy Conference will consider how that delivery can be accelerated, and how a larger, better-trained generation of African coaches can underpin the continent’s next phase of growth.