While the African Cup of Nations is in full swing in Morocco, the pressure is growing on their shoulders. The coaches of the sixteen teams still in the running will find themselves on the front line as the knockout matches begin this Saturday. Coming from European football, former players or pure products of local training, the coaches all present a different profile. At least as much as their salaries.
On December 21, the media specializing in sports business news Sportune published an estimate of the salaries received by the coaches hired this winter in Morocco, confirming information revealed by Le Monde at the end of 2024.
Petkovic ahead of Regragui
Unsurprisingly, the highest paid technician of CAN 2025 remains Algerian. Vladimir Petkovic would indeed earn around 135,000 euros per month. A sum still much lower than that received monthly by his predecessor Djamel Belmadi, who received 205,000 euros/month until CAN 2024, his last on the Fennecs bench.
Given the resources available to the Algerian Football Federation (FAF), one of the richest on the African continent, this first place seems logical. According to information from several Algerian media, Petkovic would also have benefited from bonuses for having qualified the Greens for the CAN and the 2026 World Cup, of 100,000 and 400,000 euros respectively.
More surprising, however, was the fourth place occupied by Walid Regragui, the coach of Morocco, host country and big favorite of the competition. The salary of the boss of the Atlas Lions would be between 70,000 and 90,000 euros per month. At the end of his contract in 2026, the man who led Achraf Hakimi and his partners to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup would benefit from numerous bonuses to compensate for this lower salary than several of his colleagues from major African nations.
The top 10 highest paid coaches of CAN 2025:
1 – Vladimir Petkovic (Algeria): 135,000 euros/month
2 – Hugo Broos (South Africa): 75,000 euros/month
3 – Émerse Faé (Ivory Coast): 75,000 euros/month
4 – Walid Regragui (Morocco): 70,000 euros/month
5 – Éric Chelle (Nigeria): 55,000 euros/month
6 – James Kwesi Appiah (Sudan): 48,000 euros/month
7 – Sébastien Desabre (DR Congo): 42,000 euros/month
8 – Hossam Hassan (Egypt): 30,000 euros/month
9 – Gernot Rohr (Benin): 25,000 euros/month
10 – Pape Thiaw (Senegal): 20,000 euros/month
Pope Thiaw far behind
Ahead of Regragui, Hugo Broos (South Africa), winner of the CAN with Cameroon in 2017, would benefit from a monthly salary of 75,000 euros just like Émerse Faé. The Ivorian coach, hero of the last African Cup won by the Elephants in 2024, directly climbed onto the podium of the best-paid African coaches thanks to his exploit, even though he was only a temporary worker at the time.
The top 5 is completed by Éric Chelle, the former Malian international now well established on the Nigeria bench, who would be around 55,000 euros/month.
On the other hand, despite its status as a serious outsider for the final victory in Morocco, Senegal only places its coach in 10th place. Appointed in 2024 in place of Aliou Cissé, who earned 46,000 euros per month, Pape Thiaw “only” receives 20,000 euros per month, behind Gernot Rohr in Benin (25,000 euros) and Hossam Hassan in Egypt (30,000 euros).
