Yaya Toure made history Wednesday when his club Slovan Bratislava secured a place in the UEFA Champions League group phase, making him the first African coach to lead a team into the main round of European football's top club competition. The Slovakian club clinched their spot with a 3-2 aggregate win over Slovenian club NK Celje.
Toure joined Slovan Bratislava as head coach in June. In two months, he has led the Slovak champions to four league wins and through multiple qualifying rounds to reach the group stage.
According to Al Jazeera, the club began their qualifying campaign in July with a 2-0 win over Georgian side Saburtalo, then drew the second leg 1-1. They followed that by beating Sweden's Mjallby in both legs of the second qualifying round before overcoming NK Celje in the playoffs.
After the result, fans serenaded Toure with the Yaya Toure chant made famous during his years at Manchester City in the 2010s.
Toure retired as a player in 2019 after an 18-year career across top European leagues. Before arriving at City in 2010, he played for Barcelona, where he won the Champions League in the 2008-09 season, two La Liga titles, the Spanish Super Cup, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup. At City, he won three Premier League titles, one FA Cup, and three English League Cups.
He is the joint most decorated African footballer, having won four African Footballer of the Year awards between 2011 and 2014, and he won the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast in 2015.
Before taking the Bratislava job, Toure worked as an assistant manager at clubs across Europe, including Leyton Orient in England and clubs in Belgium. He also served as assistant coach of the Saudi Arabian national team in 2023 under his former Manchester City manager.
Slovan Bratislava will learn their group stage opponents when the Champions League draw is held in Madrid on Thursday.
