Otto Pfister

Between 1976 and 1978, Pfister changed the face of football in Burkina Faso. They were known as the Upper Volta national football team until 1984, when Upper Volta became Burkina Faso. The establishment in Burkina Faso welcomed the German coach and because of the natural interest in football, the Government’s commitment and Pfister's ability, the Burkina Faso national team qualified for their first ever African Cup of Nations in 1978 in Ghana. It was the success with the Burkina team that opened the way for Pfister to traverse Africa, the Middle East, and Asia over the following years since his first landing in Africa.

In 1982, Pfister became coach of the Ivory Coast national team. He repaid his new employers’ confidence in him by taking the country’s youth team to the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship in Mexico. They would not qualify to the quarter-finals, however, Pfister would win the U19 African Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast in 1983.

Pfister took over as head coach of Congo DR national football team (formerly the Zaire national football team) in 1985, where he would spend four years helping to restore the 1974 African champions to their former glories. Pfister was responsible for unleashing a new generation of ‘Leopards’, including Eugene Kabongo, Gaston Mobati, Panguy Merikani and Mutumbile Santos, all of whom took part in the African Cup of Nations 1988.

Pfister led Ghana to a famous win in the 1991 FIFA U-17 World Championship. The Championship was held in the cities of Florence, Montecatini Terme, Viareggio, Massa, Carrara, and Livorno in Italy between 16 August and 31 August 1991. Ghana finished second to Spain in their group and progressed to the Quarter-finals where they beat Brazil 2–1 with goals from Mohammed Gargo and Nii Lamptey. After a 0–0 draw with Qatar in the Semi-finals, Ghana won 4–2 in a penalty shoot-out, lining up a final against Spain. On 31 August 1991, Ghana beat Spain 1–0 in the World Cup final in Florence, Ghana's first title.

The Ghana national team qualified for the 1992 African Cup of Nations after finishing top of their qualifying group. Ghana qualified to the Quarter-finals after two 1–0 victories over Egypt and Zambia in the first round of the final tournament. Ghana beat Congo to take them through to the Semi-finals where they beat Nigeria, 2–1. On 26 January 1992 in Senegal, Ghana played Ivory Coast in the final of the African Cup of Nations. After extra time the final score was 0–0 and the game entered penalties. After a marathon penalty shootout, Ivory Coast finally won 11–10 on penalties. The penalty shootout was significant in that it was the first in the final of a major international tournament that every player on the pitch took a penalty.

During Pfister's time with Ghana, he was observed numerous times not wearing a belt, and thus consequently, he wore his trousers very low. This gave rise to the term "Otto Pfister" within Ghanaian popular slang culture. "Otto Pfister" in this regard has come to mean someone sagging their trousers.

Pfister became the head coach of Saudi Arabia in 1997 after previously working in the AFC from 1995–1997 with Bangladesh. In 1997, Pfister successfully guided Saudi Arabia to the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France but was crudely released just before the tournament because he requested the Saudi Princes to interfere less in team affairs. After Saudi Arabia lost their opening two games and failed to progress, Carlos Alberto Parreira was fired and Pfister was reinstated as head coach on completion of the tournament. As World Cup Qualifiers, Saudi Arabia automatically qualified for the 1998 Arab Nations Cup. With the help of an impressive 8 goals in 4 games from Obeid Al-Dosari, Saudi Arabia were crowned champions after beating Qatar 3–1 in the final. Despite being the only team not to lose a game, Saudi Arabia also finished as runners-up in the 1998 Gulf Cup of Nations in Bahrain.

Pfister was highly successful during his time at Zamalek SC. During his time as head coach (1999–2002) Pfister won an impressive five trophies. On 10 December 2000, Zamalek recorded a convincing 4–3 aggregate score in the second-leg final against Canon Yaoundé in the African Cup Winners' Cup (now the Confederations Cup). The first and last time this trophy would be won by the Egyptian club. Pfister led Zamalek for their worst defeat against rivals Al Ahly 6–1 on 16 May 2002, Zamalek also reached the final of the CAF Super Cup, losing 2–0 to Accra Hearts of Oak SC.

Pfister was appointed as Manager of Nejmeh SC in the Lebanon for the 2004-05 season. After 19 games, Nejmeh were joint top of the 2004–05 Lebanese Premier League with Al-Ansar Club. Both teams needed to win the final match, which incidentally was against each other. The final result was 2–2 and Pfister's Nejmeh were crowned champions as they had a highly superior goal difference. Pfister secured qualification to the 2005 AFC Cup for Nejmeh (which they would eventually finish as runners-up). Pfister also won the Lebanese Super Cup and Lebanese Elite Cup with Nejmeh during the 2004–05 season.

Pfister was selected to lead the Togo national team three months before World Cup 2006 after Stephen Keshi was sacked. Prior to the World Cup, players went on strike because of unpaid bonuses. Faced with the rebellion over bonuses, Pfister walked out, saying he could take no more. Pfister was reinstated three days later after demands from players and FTF staff.

Sports commentators such as Ed Kavalee ensured that this dispute was resolved with a high level of transparency, with countries as far away as Australia receiving constant Pfister updates.

Togo lost their opening game of the World Cup, despite having taken the lead against South Korea through a goal by Mohamed Kader. In the second half, Jean-Paul Abalo was sent off after 55 minutes, and goals from Lee Chun-Soo and Ahn Jung-Hwan sealed a 2–1 defeat for Togo. Togo's next opponents in Group G were Switzerland, with the match scheduled for the afternoon of 19 June. However, the Togo squad threatened to refuse to fulfil the fixture and take strike action against unpaid bonuses. FIFA negotiated with the squad on 17 June, persuading them to travel to Dortmund in time to fulfil the fixture; goals from Alexander Frei and Tranquillo Barnetta resulted in a 2–0 defeat. Togo's final group game against France ended in 2–0 defeat.

On 27 October 2007, Pfister was appointed the manager of Cameroon, succeeding 80 other candidates.[9] He coached Cameroon in the 2008 African Cup of Nations, held in Ghana. Two second half goals from Samuel Eto'o were not enough to win their opening game which finished 4–2 to Egypt. Cameroon picked themselves up four days later and beat Zambia convincingly 5–1. In their final group game Eto'o again scored twice as Les Lions Indomptables won 3–0. After finishing second to Egypt in the group stages, Cameroon progressed to the Quarter-finals where, after a close encounter, they beat Tunisia 3–2. Stéphane Mbia scored early in extra time to take the Indomptable Lions through to the Semi-finals. Alain N'Kong scored a 72nd-minute winner for Cameroon in a 1–0 win over Ghana in the Semi-finals, taking Cameroon to their sixth final of the African Cup of Nations. On 10 February 2008, Cameroon took on defending champions Egypt in the Final in Accra. Egypt scored a 77th-minute goal through Mohamed Aboutrika which would be enough to win the match and be crowned the champions of the 2008 African Cup of Nations. Eto'o was the tournaments highest scorer with five goals. Pfister stepped down from his role on 26 May 2009.

In January 2015, Pfister was linked with Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 club USM Alger, and signed a contract with the club shortly after.[10][11] On 18 May Pfister was sacked as coach of USM Alger.[12]