AFCON: Ivory Coast sack coach despite possibility of second round qualification

Ivory Coast have sacked Jean-Louis Gasset as the head coach of the country’s male national team. 

Gasset’s side had endured an uninspiring group stage of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast.

Although the Elephants defeated Guinea-Bissau 2-0 in their opening game, they lost to Nigeria and were thrashed 4-0 by Equatorial Guinea in their last group game.

The result against the National Thunder was the country’s heaviest defeat on home soil, and it took the Elephants’ fate in the competition out of their hands.

Announcing the dismissal in a statement on its Facebook account on Wednesday, the Ivorian football federation said it “terminated the contracts” Gasset and his assistant “due to insufficient results”.

Emerse Fae, one of Gasset’s assistant coaches, has been appointed to lead the team on an interim basis.

Ivory, who are on three points, must now wait on the results of the last group games on Wednesday to see if they can qualify as one of best third-placed teams.

Gasset was appointed as the head coach of the Elephants in May 2022, replacing Patrice Beaumelle, who had been employed as a replacement for Havre Renard.

Gasset becomes the fifth coach to exit their position following their team’s performance at AFCON.

On Tuesday, Ghana parted ways with Chris Hughton after the Black Stars crashed out of the competition group stage. Tom Saintfiet also left his role as the head coach of The Gambia, while Algeria’s Djamel Belmadi ended his tenure as the country’s national team head coach.

Adel Amrouche, the coach of the Tanzania national team, was also handed an eight-match suspension by CAF for making “insulting remarks” about Morocco after their first game at the competition.