The AFC Asian Cup 2023 and the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2023 will conclude this weekend with the finals between Qatar and Jordan as well as Côte d’Ivoire and Nigeria. Former KAS Eupen players and coaches were and are involved in both continental championships.

At the AFC Asian Cup 2023, hosts and defending champions Qatar have reached the final for the second time in a row, which will be played on Saturday at 4.00 pm. The head coach of the Qatar national team is Bartolomé Tintín Márquez, who was coach of KAS Eupen from 2012 to 2015. The goalkeeping coach is long-serving KAS Eupen goalkeeping coach Javier Ruiz and former team captain Luis Garcia is part of the Qatari coaching staff as assistant coach.

The Qatari national team includes Akram Afif, Homam Ahmed and Bassam Al Rawi, who have also played for KAS Eupen. Qatar reached the final with a 3:2 victory over Iran, who fielded former KAS players Omid Ebrahimi and Saeid Ezatolahi. In the second semi-final, Jordan surprisingly beat South Korea 2-0.

The final of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2023 will take place at the Stade Olympique d’Ebimpé in Abidjan on Sunday evening at 9 p.m. Lazare Amani of Union Saint-Gilloise, who wore the KAS Eupen shirt from 2016 until the beginning of 2020, is part of the squad from finalists and hosts Côte d’Ivoire.

After Mauritania’s first ever historic victory in the Africa Cup of Nations finals against Algeria, former KAS Eupen goalkeeper Babacar Niasse was voted “Man of the Match”. Ibrahim Diakité, who played for KAS Eupen in the first half of 2023, was in the squad from Guinea, while Sulayman Marreh was part of the Gambia national team.