KF Tirana has fired Nigerian coach Nduguisi Egbo despite him leading the club to their first league title in a decade, in July this year.
The 47-year-old was also the first African coach to lead European team to a league title and qualification to the UEFA Champions League, or any other European competition.
The club said the decision to fire him was due to “poor performances in the last matches” and thanked him for “his dedication and title successes last season.”
“I don’t have any regrets or disappointment because I gave the maximum and the team did likewise, so I remain grateful to God for what we achieved and accomplished together.
To the fans for their incredible and overwhelming support towards me and the team, I am grateful.
“The players for their wonderful and positive spirit all through our campaign last season, I say kudos to them all.”
The coach was previously a player with KF Trian nd won the Albanian league, th cup and Super Cup in the space of three years. He then took the interim position of coach before being appointed halfway through 2019 when Tirana was 8th in the 10-team division.
Things started looking up and the team went on to win 16 matches in a row, then 20 out of 23 matches before the team became Kategoria Superiore champions.
He was dismissed following two defeats,
In July, Egbo made headlines after he spoke out about the racist abuse he received while in Albania.
Speaking to BBC News, Egbo said that during one game, he had bananas thrown at him. He also said he had been spat at.
“The officials of the Albanian FA didn’t do anything because it was an away game and the fans were white. Police and security were there- but nobody did anything. They were afraid of the fans there,” he said.
“I couldn’t do anything, I just had to accept it.”
Egbo explained that he often heard things said about him in Albanian as people didn’t think he understood. He said that when getting on a bus while wearing a backpack, two men behind him said: “this one might be from Al Qaeda”.
The AFA denied these claims to Exit and said they had a strict policy against racism.
“FA regrets to inform you that these alleged incidents have not been reported to the competent decision-making bodies by the match officials, nor by Mr. Egbo himself. The latter has the duty to report in accordance with the relevant provisions any such infringements by informing in writing, the general secretariat directly,” they wrote.
