Brussels native Kevin Nicaise proudly pulled on the jersey of Chad – his father’s homeland – ۱۳ times during his playing career. And since 2011, the year in which the former defender was handed his first cap, his love for the African nation has continued to grow.

“I could have made a commitment to coach a club in Belgium, where the living conditions would have been better, but I’m a Chadian and proud of it,” he told FIFA in an exclusive interview. “The desire to serve my country was much stronger. It’s a difficult feeling to describe properly.”

Mirroring Emerse Fae with Côte d’Ivoire or Walid Regragui with Morocco, Nicaise is part of a new generation of dual-nationality coaches who built a successful career outside Africa before deciding to take the helm of one of the continent’s national teams.

“All coaches dream of leading their national side – that’s the ultimate goal,” he said. “If you come back here to work, you’re also setting yourself a challenge. To coach in Africa, you have to have a lot of heart. But when you see what your sacrifices bring in terms of improvements to the team, you realise that it’s worthwhile.”

Chad, however, have not enjoyed a strong start to African qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup 26™. Although significant progress is detectable in their general standard of play, Les Sao find themselves rock bottom of their group following defeats by Mali and Madagascar. Those results have not got the alarm bells ringing just yet, though, with Nicaise confident his charges can turn things around in June.

With that month’s key pair of fixtures against Central African Republic and Comoros at the forefront of his mind, a relaxed Nicaise spoke to FIFA about Chad’s upcoming challenges, as well as his greatest World Cup memories.

You’ve been in charge of Chad since October 2023. What attracted you to the job?
Kevin Nicaise: I’d say that all coaches dream of leading their national side – that’s the ultimate goal. When I was a player, I always thought that it was possible to achieve something incredible and unexpected with Chad. We earned some impressive results, but overall our record is fairly poor, to be honest. At the end of my playing career, I took my coaching badges and got the chance to work in an assistant role within the national set-up, and then I took charge in my own right. It’s my love for my country that spurs me to succeed where others weren’t able to, for a variety of reasons.

Chad face Mauritius on 20 and 26 March in a two-legged preliminary round for the 2025 CAF Africa Cup of Nations. What are the keys to winning those matches?
We’re going to have to be in top-notch physical shape. In the past, this aspect of the game has often been our undoing. The players weren’t in the right physical condition because they hadn’t played enough matches. It was clear that we weren’t quite there, physically speaking, as we would crumble in the last ten minutes of games and inevitably concede late goals. For the double-header against Mauritius, that won’t be the case, because all my lads are getting playing time at their clubs right now. Mentally, the squad is ready, and I don’t have any doubts that they can stick to our tactical gameplan.

What would it mean for Chad to qualify for a major tournament?
It’s every Chadian’s dream. It would be amazing, because we’re one of the few countries never to have taken part in a major competition like the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations. Our first win in Cup of Nations qualifying came five years ago against Liberia, and the entire country was overjoyed. We’re acutely aware of the challenge ahead of us and the expectations of the fans.

In June, your players go up against Central African Republic and Comoros in the next set of qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup 26. What should we expect from Chad?
We want to gain experience and pick up a good result. We really want to make progress, and the best way to do that is by playing matches. It’s great at the moment, because the games have been coming thick and fast. We played twice in November, we’ve got two fixtures in March, and then there are two more in June. That’s six matches in seven months, which is unheard of for Chad – it’s a bit of a luxury, really. The more matches you play, the more you get to the point where you’re doing certain things without thinking.

For the first time in football history, Africa will send at least nine representatives to the World Cup. Can we expect great things from these nations?
Of course! African football has nothing to feel insecure about anymore. Our teams are getting stronger and stronger, to the extent that some of them can even compete with the best national sides in the world. I’m pretty hopeful that, in 2026, an African nation will make it to the last four again.

To wrap up, can you tell us about your greatest memories of the World Cup?
I’ve got two. First, Belgium’s run at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where Les Diables Rouges reached the semi-finals. As a dual national, I know quite a few players from that generation, and it was tremendous to see them do so well at that tournament. My second one is when France won in 1998 – Zidane and Co really inspired me.