Éric Chelle, head coach for Nigeria, who recently achieved third place at the Africa Cup of Nations, has shared his ambitions to become Real Madrid's first African manager. In an interview with RMC Sport, the 48-year-old manager, born in the Ivory Coast of French and Malian parents, said "my dream is to become the first AFRICAN coach to lead Real Madrid".
Chelle holds all three nationalities, but as pointed out by AS, he would not be the first African-born coach in France, as Carlos Queiroz, who took charge of Real Madrid between 2003 and 2004, and has most recently been coach for countries like Portugal, Iran, Colombia, Egypt, Iran, Qatar, and Currently Oman, was born in Angoche, in the Portuguese Mozambique.
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Chelle, who played as centre-back in French teams such as Valenciennes, Lens, and Istres, and then became manager of French clubs FC Martigues and Boulogne, was also head coach for Mali. He became viral during AFCON when he complained that a rival assistant manager was doing "voodoo" on his players.
He took over the role of Nigerian head coach in January 2025, and beyond the recent third place finish at the AFCON, defeating Egypt in penalties, he also won the third edition of the Unity Cup, a tournament between nations with large demographics in London, like Jamaica, Ghana, and Trinidad and Tobago.