Otto Pfister

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

Pfister has been involved in association football for almost 60 years, he began his coaching career in Switzerland as player-coach in 1961 at the age of just 23. Pfister's early coaching experience was gained with FC Vaduz, FC St. Gallen, FC Nordstern Basel, FC Moutier and finally FC Chur 97. He has worked as head coach for 10 international football teams, eight from Africa and two from Asia. In June 1972, at the age of 34, Pfister retired from his playing days and left Switzerland for Africa, taking the reins as the head coach of Rwanda. Pfister would stay in Africa for 23 years until 1995 working as the head coach for five other African Nations. Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), Senegal, Ivory Coast, Zaire (now DR Congo) and Ghana. Among his achievements include winning the JVC Fifa U17 Junior World Cup with Ghana in Ital In 1995, Pfister worked inside the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) as the head coach of Bangladesh National Team and also Saudi Arabia from 1997 - 1999. Pfister returned to club football over the following six years with Egyptian team Zamalek, Tunisian club CS Sfaxien, Lebanese club Nejmeh and Egyptian club Al-Masry. Pfister was selected as the head coach of Togo on 18 February 2006, after former coach Stephen Keshi was dismissed from the post despite having secured qualification for their first World Cup Finals. Pfister himself resigned shortly before the team's first match in the tournament, after his players went on strike against the federation over a pay dispute, but he was reappointed three days later after demands from the players. Pfister was appointed manager of Sudanese club 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. 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.

Between 1976 and 1978, Pfister changed the face of football in Burkina Faso. They were known as the Upper Volta national football team until 1984, when Upper Volta became Burkina Faso. The establishment in Burkina Faso welcomed the German coach and because of the natural interest in football, the Government's commitment and Pfister's ability, the Burkina Faso national team qualified for their first ever 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.

In 1982, Pfister became coach of the Ivory Coast national team. He repaid his new employers’ confidence in him by taking the country's youth team to the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship in Mexico. They would not qualify to the quarter-finals, however, Pfister would win the U19 African Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast in 1983.

Pfister took over as head coach of Congo DR national football team (formerly the Zaire national football team) in 1985, where he would spend four years helping to restore the 1974 African champions to their former glories. Pfister was responsible for unleashing a new generation of ‘Leopards’, including Eugene Kabongo, Gaston Mobati, Panguy Merikani and Mutumbile Santos, all of whom took part in the African Cup of Nations 1988.

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 Ghana national team qualified for the 1992 African Cup of Nations after finishing top of their qualifying group. Ghana qualified to the Quarter-finals after two 1–0 victories over Egypt and Zambia in the first round of the final tournament. Ghana beat Congo to take them through to the Semi-finals where they beat Nigeria, 2–1. On 26 January 1992 in Senegal, Ghana played Ivory Coast in the final of 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.