Belgian coach Georges Leekens was appointed in early 2014 to try and revive the team's fortunes. Early results were positive, including a (1–1) draw against Colombia and a 1–0 win over South Korea, both in friendly matches. Under Leekens, the team climbed from 49th to 22nd in few months in the FIFA rankings so the team regained its continental luster after the emergence of a new generation of players. Tunisia qualified for the 2015 African Cup of Nations and finished top of their strong group including Senegal, Egypt and Botswana. At the finals of the tournament, Tunisia finished top of their group for the first time since 2008 winning Zambia 2–1 and drawing with Cape Verde and DR Congo with the same result 1–1 but were eliminated in the quarter-finals after a controversial 2–1 defeat to the host Equatorial Guinea making CAF banned the referee Rajindraparsad Seechurn for six months for his "poor performance" at the tournament. In June 2015, Leekens resigned surprisingly for security reasons after he restored the glamor of the team. In July 2015, Henryk Kasperczak returned as coach after 17 years. He managed to qualify the team for the 2017 African Cup in the lead with victory over Liberia, Togo and Djibouti.