EMERSE Fae has been retained on a permanent basis as the head coach of the Cote d’Ivoire national team after leading the country to the AFCON 2023 Africa Cup of Nations title.
The former international took over from Jean-Louis Gasset midway into the tournament after the hosts scraped through the group stages, and he led them to win all their knockout fixtures, including the final against the Super Eagles of Nigeria on February 11 in Abijdan.
Fae was working as interim coach while guiding the Elephants to their third AFCON title and he has now been given the job full-time.
“Emerse was until now interim coach and has just been confirmed today as full coach,” the Ivoirian federation boss Idriss Diallo said yesterday.
The Elephants were on the verge of elimination from AFCON 2023 when they fired veteran French coach Jean-Louis Gasset in January after winning just one of their three group games, losing the other two to Nigeria (1-0) and Equatorial Guinea (4-0).
However, results from other groups favoured the hosts and they squeezed through as the last of the four best third-placed teams.
Fae, a former Ivorian international who had never worked as head coach before, took over and oversaw a stunning turnaround.
In the round of 16, Cote d’Ivoire came from behind to beat holders Senegal on penalties. Then, playing much of the match with 10 men, they came from behind to beat Mali in extra-time in the quarter-finals.
After beating the Democratic Republic of Congo 1-0 in the last four, they staged another comeback to beat the Super Eagles of Nigeria 2-1 in the final and lift the trophy.
