Trebor Mahtal’s managerial career began well as he led Zesco United to the Zambian Super Division in his first season as a Football Manager. With that title in the bag, his time in Zambia was done, so he resigned two days later and went on the hunt for his second job.
However, Mahtal’s success hadn’t boosted his reputation above Local and the Zesco board had repeatedly refused to allow him to take a coaching course. So he was slightly worried he might struggle to find another role. He set about applying for vacancies and swiftly received invites to interviews with clubs in Tanzania and Ivory Coast. And he was relieved to see it didn’t take long for an offer to arrive, which would take him to Ivory Coast on £300 per week.
Who are FC San Pédro?
Football Club San Pédro is a football club based in the seaside city of San Pédro, Ivory Coast’s sixth largest city, second largest port and second economic hub, after the capital Abijan, located in the southwest of the country. The club was founded in 2004 to provide competition with the city’s dominant force Séwé Sports de San Pédro.
FC San Pédro achieved promotion to the Ivorian top tier Ligue 1 for the first time in 2015/16, finished 9th in their first season and an impressive 3rd place finish in 2017/18. That saw the club qualify for continental football for the first time, just 14 years after it was founded. The club’s rapid rise continued as it won its first major honour with a Côte d’Ivoire Cup victory in 2019. Five years later, it became champions of Ivory Coast for the first time, before adding another cup success in 2025. San Pédro play at the 20,000 capacity Stade Laurent Pokou, with adequate training facilities, below average youth facilities and average youth recruitment and academy coaching.
In-game, San Pédro disappointed in the first season, finishing 6th in Ligue 1, 14 points behind surprise winners CO Korhogo (who lifted their maiden title after being predicted to finish 10th with title odds of 50/1), despite being the bookies’ 2nd favourites for the title. The club is also in a solid financial position with £465k in the bank, but only £48k to spend and £40 over the wage budget over £8k per week.
Mahtal’s relationship with the San Pédro board didn’t get off to the best start. Just 4 days into the job, they went over his head to accept a £110k bid for his best player Guy-Stéphane Bedi from league rivals ASEC Mimosas, which, in their defence, nearly tripled the club’s record sale for a player on £700 a week and with 12 months on his contract. Mahtal allowed 7 poor players to leave at the end of their contracts, which freed up another £1200 in wages.
The best player remaining at the club was striker Junior Romaric Okoubi, along with 29-year-old holding midfielder Brou N’Goh, centre back Mouhamadou Karamoko, winger Issouf Dosso, attacking midfielder Théodore Aby, exciting 17-year-old midfielder Moussa Koné and 20-year-old wingers Yacine Sahli and Laciné Dosso. Mahtal also inherited a squad with plenty of potential, including more promising 17-year-olds in centre backs Mohamed Diarra and recent youth intake star Mamadou Kouamé and right back Mathieu Amon, and 7 first teamers with up to 5-star potential. They also had a star youth graduate to keep an eye on in 16-year-old midfielder Serge Fofana.
The players available seemed to perfectly suit the 4-4-1-1 that Mahtal had created at Zesco. 17-year-olds Kouamé and Koné get huge opportunities at the heart of defence and midfield, with young wingers Hamed Coulibaly and L Dosso supporting the attacking duo of Aly and Okoubi. But this may be a work in progress given the squad was extremely young – Okoubi and N’Goh are the only starters aged over 22 and 13 of the 22-man squad are 20 or under.
First Taste of Ivorian Football
The bookies made San Pédro third favourites to win Ligue 1 with title odds of 12/1. ASEC Mimosas are 6/4 favourites, along with AFAD Plateau (17/2), Stella Club and SC Gagnoa (13/1) and RC Abidjan, FC OSA, Stade d’Abidjan and SO Armée (18/1). While holders CO Korhogo are predicted to finish 11th with odds of 33/1.
Mahtal’s time in Ivory Coast began well as Aby, who only scored 3 goals in 22 games last season, scored twice in the first half before Koné’s first senior goal capped off a 3-1 win at So Armée. His first home game saw champions Korhogo visit San Pédro and they fell to a 2-1 defeat, but Koné bagged the only goal at Sol FC before a 1-1 at home to RC Abidjan and a 1-0 loss at early leaders ISCA.
That left San Pédro in 8th place after 5 games, and Mahtal wasn’t impressed with what he’d seen so far. So he pushed the wingers on into their more natural higher positions, and Coulibaly and Sahli delivered goals to seal a first home win, 3-2 over Gagnoa. Mahtal’s plans weren’t exactly helped as, a month after the transfer deadline had passed, the board yet again went over his head to accept a £180k bid from Vita Club for young winger L Dosso, which again broke the club’s record transfer fee. But a week later, their best performance yet saw Sahli, Okoubi, Coulibaly and Karamoko earn a 4-0 thrashing of ES Bingerville.
The biggest challenge in Ivorian football took San Pédro to ASEC Mimosas in late October, and they were a little unlucky to lose 1-0. But two more title challengers followed and they drew 0-0 at AAD Plateau before thrashing Stella Club 4-0 led by Dosso’s goal and 2 assists. The form continued to be a bit iffy but that was also the case for all the main title challengers, and San Pédro sat in 6th place, just 5 points off top spot, going into a 50-day mid-season break.
Falling Away from a Title Race?
San Pédro returned to action with a dominant performance at Korhogo – who, as champions, were sitting bottom of the league and 5 points from safety! – but relied on late Dosso and Aby strikes to secure a 2-0 win. Goalshy striker Okoubi scored just his 3rd goal of the campaign and ended an 11-hour goal drought early on in a 3-1 win over Armée to move his side within just 3 points of the top of the league with 13 games remaining. And the strong start to 2027 continued as Coulibaly, Okoubi and Koné earned a 3-0 domination of Sol.
A couple of draws extended their unbeaten run to 11 games, 7 of which had been draws, which ended with a 3-1 defeat at Gagnoa. They recovered by thrashing Bouaké 4-1 led by 19-year-old striker Ouérmi Camara’s first goal for the club, but another disappointing away loss at Bingerville left them 8 points back from surprise leaders Mouna. However, a 2-0 win over ASEC Mimosas, thanks to late goals by Okoubi and Aby, and Okoubi’s goal at home to OSA reignited hopes of a title challenge.
Game 26 – Stade d’Abidjan (4th, home): A big first game in the title race was a tight affair, but Camara’s close-range header put the hosts in front, only for the visitors to equalise after an hour. However, Mahtal threw Okoubi on and he had an instant impact, tapping in the winner 10 minutes from time. Mouna won, taking them to one defeat in their last 16 games, but Stella Club lost at home to Plateau, taking San Pédro 2nd but still 5 points behind Mouna.
Game 27 – AFAD Plateau (9th, away): San Pédro built the pressure as Coulibaly’s goal was enough for a 1-0 away victory. And Mouna finally lost 3-1 at Stade d’Abidjan, closing the gap to just 2 points with 3 games remaining.
Game 28 – Stella Club (4th, away): The title probably slipped out of sight as they fell into a 2-0 deficit at Stella Club, but late goals by Camara and Okoubi at least gave them some hope. But Mouna returned to winning ways at home to Plateau to move 4 points clear.
Game 29 – FC Mouna (1st, home): The top two went head-to-head with the title on the line in the penultimate game of the season. And San Pédro took it to the final day as Camara and Dosso strikes capped a dominant display to earn a 2-0 victory.
Game 30 – Zoman FC (4th, away): That meant Mouna continued to lead by 1 point as they hosted Stella Club and San Pédro made the trip to Zoman on the final day. The pressure clearly got to both teams as San Pédro crumbled to a 3-2 defeat, even as Mouna were losing 1-0. And that meant Mouna, who were predicted to finish 12th with title odds of 50/1, claimed top spot.
Silverware Hopes Rest on Cup Run
San Pédro got a tough draw as they entered Coupe de Cote d’Ivoire in the third round, but a Coulibaly goal saw off league leaders Mouna. Okoubi and Aby goals downed Plateau 2-1 and Coulibaly scored the only goal at Stade d’Abidjan to send his side into the semis. They took on second tier Yamoussoukro in the last four and eased to a 2-0 win through Camara and Aby. That teed up a final against ISCA a week later, and Mahtal lined up:
Kouassi; Amon, Karamoko, Kouamé, Yoan; N’Goh, Koné; Coulibaly, Aby, Dosso; Camarra
Subs: Okoubi, Kipré, Yéo, Koffi, Sahli, Sanogo, Mkwebu, Malo, Touré
ISCA started brighter with 3 shots in the first 10 minutes and 6 shots to 2 in a drab first half. Mahtal laid into the team at the break and they responded with a first shot on target before Dosso hit the post after 58 minutes. They dominated the second half without creating any meaningful chances, and it finished 0-0. Mahtal went more positive, which worked nicely as Okoubi stole in at the front post to head them in front.
FC San Pédro won their third Coupe de Cote d’Ivoire!
A Successful Season in Ivory Coast
Mahtal enjoyed his first season in Ivory Coast, adding a first domestic cup success to the league title in his maiden campaign. However, he was a little disappointed by some of his players’ contributions. Okoubi led the way with just 11 goals in 35 games and, despite his cup final winner, was dropped at the end of the season, followed by Aby (10), Coulibaly and Camara (8) and Sahli and Dosso (5). Dosso topped the assists with 9, ahead of Aby (8) and Koné and Touré (5).
Despite slightly bottling the league title on the final day, the board was happy with the manager’s efforts to finish in the top four. Mahtal signed a new one-year contract at San Pédro in early April, which triggered the board to fulfil their promise to send him on a first coaching course for his National B License.
Mahtal saw plenty of potential at San Pédro and would be prioritising taking the Ivorian title with his promising young team in his second season at the club. But could he achieve it or would there be another surprise winner? Join us on Friday to find out!
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