TOM SANTFIET WILL NOT BE COACHING THE INDOMITABLE LIONS

According to ESPN, Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet will not be coaching the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon. The former Gambia coach has just signed on as coach of the Philippines national team.

According to news that went round the internet, the Cameroon Football Federation (FECAFOOT) had contacted Tom SaintFiet to replace Rigobert Song as coach of the Indomitable Lions.

Tom Saintfiet, had coached the Gambian national team from 2018 to 2024, earning a place in the top five coaches of the year on the African continent in 2022 and 2023, voted by the Confederation of African Football. In 2022, he was runner-up in the Royal Belgian Football Association’s “Coach of the Year” award. By January 2024, Saintfiet had already made 100 official FIFA matches as a national team coach.

He was appointed technical director of the team in 2012 and became a candidate for the position of head coach again in 2016.

Saintfiet has coached in several countries, including Belgium, Qatar, Germany , the Faroe Islands , Finland , Jordan and the Netherlands . He has also worked in Africa, having been head coach of the national teams of Namibia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Malawi and Togo, among others. Saintfiet was manager of Finnish Premier League club RoPS Rovaniemi. In 2002, he coached the Faroese team B71 to a second-place finish in the Faroese First Division.

He then became coach at Al-Ittihad Sports Club in Qatar (now Al-Gharafa Sports Club). In 2004, he coached the Qatar U-17 national football team to third place in the AFC U-17 Championship, qualifying for the FIFA U-17 World Cup. Prior to the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Saintfiet was one of the candidates to lead the Nigerian national team for the World Cup campaign in South Africa. He was appointed technical director of the team in 2012 and was candidate once more  for the position of head coach in 2016.

Delia Nyadi