Ivory Coast’s head coach, Emerse Fae, is confident that his team will qualify for the 2025 tournament in Morocco from Group G.
Fae became the manager of the Ivory Coast U23 and assistant coach of the Ivory Coast senior team in May 2022. Later, in January 2024, he was appointed as caretaker of Ivory Coast for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations round of 16, following the dismissal of Gasset.
Under his leadership, Ivory Coast clinched the 2023 AFCON title, and Fae was awarded the Best Coach of the tournament.
The Ivory Coast has been assigned to a challenging group for the upcoming African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, where they will compete against Zambia, Sierra Leone, and Chad in Group G.
Fae mentioned his familiarity with the Zambian team, which Ivory Coast previously played against in the last Afcon qualifying.
“We played against Zambia for the last Afcon qualifying so we know this team very well,” Fae said.
“No easy games in African football but we are defending champions and must be ready to defend our crown by reaching Morocco 2025,” Fae was quoted as saying.
“The team appreciates the proximity of the upcoming games, as they prefer not to have long trips.”
The qualifiers will occur across six match days in September, October, and November of this year. Fae expressed his preference for playing all the games quickly, as it helps the team to stay focused and allows them time to prepare if they qualify for the competition.
The 2025 Afcon finals are scheduled to begin on 21st December next year, with the final on 18th January 2026.
