Former Black Stars coach Otto Addo believes that the 2022 FIFA World Cup opened the eyes of the world to the reality that African and Asian countries can compete.

All five African countries that played at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar that is Ghana, Cameroon, Morocco, Senegal, and Tunisia had local coaches.

And for the first time in the history of the World Cup an African team reached the last four with Morocco achieving the enviable feat.

On their way to that record, they defeated powerhouses like Belgium, Portugal, and Spain in their amazing journey while the Asian side such as Japan beat Spain while  Korea also defeated Portugal among others.

The tournament “opened a lot of eyes because people saw African and Asian teams can compete.”.

“I think you could see the impact of the (African) coaches being connected to the country. Also, tactically the teams were well prepared,” he told Forbes in an exclusive interview.

“It (sends) the message to create, not only your own players, but taking the next step to create your own coaches. And also for the federations to believe in the coaches.

“This hopefully inspires other coaches in Africa to believe in themselves, to grow and maybe to get a chance to represent their country.”

The significance was not lost on CAF, the Confederation of African Football. In a statement it said the five African managers leading their nations “represents a giant step towards the development of African football.”

Otto Addo was appointed as interim Ghana coach in March 2022 for the two-legged World Cup play off against Nigeria which he helped Ghana qualify.

He was then handed a six-month contract till after the 2022 FIFA World Cup where he became the first Ghana to win a game for Ghana at the World Cup with  the 3-2 win over Korea.

Ghana crashed out  at the group stage after defeats to Uruguay and Portugal.