Table of Contents
- African football barely gets the attention it deserves both at home and away
- One of the major issues is remuneration for coaches and players
- However, an often-unseen reality is that despite poor pay for African footballers, some of their coaches take home hefty salaries
Little is said about the best paid African football coaches managing national teams. Most of the glory goes to international football coaches managing big football clubs in Europe.
African football barely gets the attention it deserves both at home and away. One of the major issues is remuneration for coaches and players. Sports analysts have in the past opined that football in Africa lags because the team is poorly paid.
Yet, expectations of their performance are shoulder-high, and what they earn isn’t commensurate with what they do. The result is demotivation among players. Correcting this mindset without raising players’ wages is a hard nut to crack, even for well-earning coaches.
However, an often-unseen reality is that despite poor pay for African footballers, some of their coaches take home hefty salaries. SportsLeo looks into the big names earning big bucks managing national football teams in the continent.
Best Paid African Football Coaches
Below is a list of football coaches in Africa earning big salaries from managing national teams.
Vladimir Petkovic
Vladimir Petkovic is Algeria’s national coach. The Bosnian tops the best paid African football coaches list earning $ 145,841 in salary every month. Photo/3News
Vladimir Petkovic is Algeria’s national coach. The Bosnian tops the best paid African football coaches list earning $ 145,841 in salary every month. His annual salary as Fennecs coach is $1.7 million. Petkovic, 62, has raised the team’s performance. Fennecs qualified for the 2025 AFCON under his reign.
Aliou Cisse
Aliou Cisse coaches Libya’s national team. The Senegalese’s monthly salary is $82,107. His annual pay rounds off to $985,284. He agreed to coach the Libyan team after an unceremonious end to his nine-year tenure as Senegal’s Teranga Lions head coach.
Hugo Broos
Bafana Bafana (South Africa’s national football team) head coach Hugo Broos earns $80,995 per month and $971,940 per year. The Belgian previously coached Cameroon’s Indomitable Lions and won the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) 2017. Thus, he appears on this list of the best paid African football coaches.
Emers Faye
Emers Faye is a homeboy coaching his former team, The Elephants in Ivory Coast. The Ivorian has a staggering monthly salary of $80,995 translating to $971,940 annually. He is the man who led Ivory Coast to their 2023 AFCON victory despite taking charge of the team in the middle of AFCON.
Walid Regragui
Morocco’s national coach Walid Regragui earns $75,625 per month. His annual salary at the Atlas Lions is $907,500. He made history by taking the Atlas Lions to the 2022 Qatar World Cup despite taking charge of the team three months prior. Morocco made an impressive performance by reaching the World Cup semi-finals. It was a big surprise that an African team made it that far in the tournament under one of the best paid African football coaches.
Benni McCarthy
Benni McCarthy during his stint as a first-team coach at Manchester United during Erik ten Hag’s time at Old Trafford. Photo/ESPN
The South African was recently named as Kenya’s Harambee Stars coach. According to insiders, Benni McCarthy’s monthly salary is $61,919, a huge amount in the history of Harambee Stars. McCarthy previously worked as a first-team coach at Manchester United during Erik ten Hag’s tenure. His annual pay is $743,028. He will earn at least $1.5 million on his two-year contract as Harambee Stars coach.
Otto Addo
Ghanaian Black Stars coach Otto Addo earns $48,927 per month and $587,124 annually. Although he is among the best paid African football coaches; fans feel his delivery is unsatisfactory. Ghana failed to qualify for 2025 AFCON. Calls for his sacking fell on deaf ears and his focus is taking Black Starr to the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Marc Brys
Marc Brys is the head coach of the Indomitable Lions, Cameroon’s national team. Photo/Cameroon Concord
Marc Brys is the head coach of the Indomitable Lions, Cameroon’s national team. He earns $47,502 in salary every month and $570,024 annually. Cameroon’s football body FECAFOOT led by football legend Samuel Eto’o opposed Brys’ tenure but he proudly qualified the team to 2025 AFCON.
Kwesi Appiah
Kwesi Appiah is the man managing Sudan’s national team. His monthly salary is $41,046 and $492,552 annually. His stint at Falcons of Jediane remains successful having qualified Sudan for AFCON 2025 and 2024 AFCON.
Hossam Hassan
Hossam Hassan is the Pharaohs head coach. Egypt pays him a monthly salary of $32,409 translating to $388,908 a year.
