Philippe Troussier

Philippe Omar Troussier (born 21 March 1955) is a French former association football player and the head coach of the Vietnam national football team.

After a modest playing career as a defender within the French leagues, he moved into management where he started out within the lower echelons of French football, however it was his move to Ivorian team ASEC Mimosas where he started to distinguish himself as a manager after winning several league titles with them.

This would soon see him have a long association with African football and particularly their national teams, with Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South Africa and Burkina Faso being teams he managed.

Troussier started his career in football as a player and would go on to become a professional with French Division 2 football club Angoulême in the 1976–77 league season.

The following campaign he would leave to join Red Star 93, however his stay at the club was brief and he moved to Rouen.

After several seasons with Rouen, Troussier's last professional club was Stade de Reims whom he played for until 1983.

After having spent his whole professional career in the second division he moved into management.

Troussier soon moved into management after gaining his coaching licences and achieved his first coaching position with the French Football Federation where he was allowed to manage a National football centre football club called Institut National du Football de Vichy or more commonly known as INF Vichy.

The team were allowed to participate in the third tier and given exemption from promotion or relegation so the young players could develop.

In his time with the team he led them into the 1983–84 league season where they came second within their group.

The following season Troussier would coach CS Alençon in the French fourth division and spent three seasons learning how to manage an amateur football club.

He would return to his former club Red Star 93 in the 1987–88 league season as their manager.

In his time with the club he would guide them to second within the group and promotion to the second tier at the end of the 1988–89 league campaign.

He would, however leave the club on 30 June 1989 to join second-tier club Créteil on a caretaker basis until 1 October 1989 when Bernard Maligorne took on the management position.

Troussier's first move away from France started with Ivory Coast top division football club ASEC Mimosas where in his debut season he won the league championship.

This would soon be followed by two further league titles and an endearment towards the country, which saw him gain citizenship with Ivory Coast.

With his impressive run at club level the Ivory Coast national football team hired him as their manager in hopes that he could replicate his success with the national team.

He was assigned to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, however he failed to achieve this and soon left his post to move to South African football club Kaizer Chiefs.

After a brief period with Kaizer Chiefs Troussier moved to Moroccan football club Fath Union Sport and led them to the 1995 Coupe du Trône.

His time with Fath Union Sport also saw him experience relegation to the second tier with them, however he remained with the club for several seasons until he was offered a chance to return to international management with Nigeria to replace Shaibu Amodu as they attempted to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

Entering the job halfway through qualifying he led them into four games throughout the campaign as Nigeria qualified, however the Nigeria Football Federation decided to relieve Troussier of his duties and ultimately let highly experienced coach Bora Milutinović lead them into the tournament due to his experience of already managing three different nations in a World Cup at that time.

Troussier quickly found a new job managing another African nation in Burkina Faso where he was assigned to coach them in the 1998 African Cup of Nations, which they were hosting.

In a short period of time he made the team genuine title contenders until they were beaten by Egypt 2–0 in the semi-finals.

Burkina Faso ultimately finished fourth after losing to DR Congo in the third-place match, nevertheless the result meant it was their highest ever finish at the time.

His stint at Burkina Faso would impress the South African Football Association, who offered him the job of leading South Africa to the 1998 World Cup.

He would replace Jomo Sono, who, despite leading South Africa to the final of the 1998 African Cup of Nations as a caretaker manager, was not given a permanent position.

Troussier, however was not able to galvanize the squad as he had done with Burkina Faso and the team were knocked-out in the group stages.

After the tournament he would leave Africa, but before he did he was nicknamed as the "White Witch Doctor" for his overall successful legacy towards African football.

However, his role as coach of South Africa remains a highly controversial topic, in which former defender Mark Fish, who played in the 1998 World Cup, later blamed Troussier for the failure.

In 1998 Troussier replaced Takeshi Okada to coach Japan and was assigned to improve upon the nation's previous results at the 1998 FIFA World Cup as they prepared to co-host the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Having to use a translator, he struggled to get what he wanted from the players as they were knocked out of the 1999 Copa América within the group stages.

The disappointing performance within the tournament gathered a negative reaction from the Japanese media, which saw Troussier go for a more youthful approach and take the reins of the under-20 team as they participated in the 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship.

The Japanese team had a successful campaign and were runners-up within the tournament.

His international management career would continue with Japan where he had a successful spell with them by winning the 2000 AFC Asian Cup, since then he has returned to club management.

He continued to take control of Japan's youth teams when he managed the under-23 team in the 2000 Summer Olympics and led them to the quarter-finals.

The majority of that team would then go on to be called up to the 2000 AFC Asian Cup and win the tournament.

With this success, Troussier went into the 2002 FIFA World Cup with confidence and led Japan to the final 16, making it at the time Japan's best ever finish within the competition.

In July 2003 Troussier was appointed as the new manager of Qatar and was assigned with qualification for the 2004 AFC Asian Cup with the hope of repeating the success he previously had with Japan.

Initially his reign went smoothly with a successful qualification campaign and a team selection that once again employed a youthful approach as well as several naturalized players.

The tournament itself turned out to be a disappointment that saw Qatar finish bottom of their group.