Guinea-Bissau’s long-serving coach, Baciro Cande, will not have his contract renewed when it expires next month, as confirmed by the country’s football federation on Wednesday.
The decision was taken after his team’s disappointing performance at the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Ivory Coast, where they lost all their Group A games and were the first to be eliminated from the tournament.
Despite this, Cande became a national hero in Guinea-Bissau for leading the team to four successive qualifications for the Cup of Nations finals, a remarkable achievement after decades of being one of the weakest teams in Africa.
Cande, who is 56 years old, had been in charge of Guinea-Bissau’s national team since 2016, following a previous stint as coach.
His departure adds to the list of coaching casualties after the Cup of Nations tournament in Ivory Coast, which has seen several coaches leave their positions, including Djamel Belmadi (Algeria), Rui Vitoria (Egypt), Tom Saintfiet (Gambia), Chris Hughton (Ghana), Jean-Louis Gasset (Ivory Coast), Adel Amrouche (Tanzania), and Jalel Kadri (Tunisia).
