Nigeria football and coaching legend Stephen Keshi died suddenly in the early hours of Wednesday in his home state of Benin City at the age of 54.
This shocking news comes just one year after the former international defender who has the envious record of winning the Africa Cup of Nations as player and then a coach, lost his wife Kate after a prolonged battle with cancer.
Keshi's death comes as a shock because there were no signs of illness and has been only recently linked with South African side Orlando Pirates.
The coaching legend, who won the Africa Cup of Nations with Nigeria and was interested in coaching Ghana several times, seems not to have recovered from his wife's death - friends said when confirming his death.
“He was not ill at all, never showed any signs of illness, but we suspect he never got over the death of his wife,” a friend said.
Keshi, who adopted Ghanaian midfielder Nii Odartey Lamptey as his son to be able to seal a move for him to Belgian side Anderlecht in the early 1990s is survived by four children.
The former defender is the only Nigerian to win the Africa Cup of Nations as a coach in 2013 and joined the Egyptian legend Mahmoud El-Gohary to achieve the rare feat of winning the trophy both as a player and a coach.
Keshi his football career with ACB Football Club, and New Nigeria Bank before travelling to play for Stade d’Abidjan and Africa Sports in Ivory Coast and then travelled to Belgium to play for Lokeren, Anderlecht as well as French side RC Strasbourg.
Keshi played for the Nigeria national team since 1982 before retiring after the 1994 World Cup following their excellent showing.
He also excelled in his coaching profession as he coached less fancied Togo to reach the World Cup and also helped his country to play in the global tournament.
He also coached Mali.
Nicknamed the “Big Boss” his excellent leadership qualities, Keshi is the fifth members of Nigeria's 1994 legendary World Cup squad to have died after Uche Okafor, Thompson Oliha, Rashidi Yekini and Wilfred Agbonavbare.