Côte d’Ivoire have parted company with national coach Jean-Louis Gasset – although the Ivorians went into the last 16 of the Africa Cup hours later without having played a match. In Algeria, there was the next change of coach
“The contracts of coach Jean-Louis Gasset and his assistant Ghislain Printant will be terminated due to insufficient results,” the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) announced in a press release.
For the time being, Ivory Coast will be coached by Emerse Faé, another of Gasset’s assistants. The former professional and international player from his home country will take on the role on an interim basis until the association presents a new national coach.
Hosts Ivory Coast started the 2024 Africa Cup with great ambitions. However, the two-time continental champions (1992 and 2015) played a weak preliminary round in Group A. After beating Guinea-Bissau 2:0 in their opening match, the Ivorians lost 1:0 to Nigeria and finished with a 4:0 defeat against Equatorial Guinea. Never before had an Africa Cup host lost more heavily
The two defeats meant that Côte d’Ivoire only finished third in Group A and missed out on direct qualification for the round of 16, for which the top two finishers in each group qualify. However, the Ivorians still had hopes of making it through to the knockout round – and these hopes were fulfilled in the evening: as one of the four best third-placed teams in the group, they still managed to secure their ticket.
Because all the teams in Group F except Morocco missed out on a win, the Ivorians’ three points were enough to finish better and fourth in the group.
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However, the fourth coaching change at the current Africa Cup had long since taken place. Coach change number five followed hours later: Djamel Belmadi, who had been in charge in Algeria since August 2018 and won the Africa Cup title with the Desert Foxes a year later, must also resign after the surprising preliminary round exit.
“I met with national coach Djamel Belmadi to discuss the consequences of this bitter elimination and we mutually agreed to terminate the contract,” wrote association president Walid Sadi on the platform X.
