Ivory Coast fires Jean-Louis Gasset as coach despite team's chance to reach Africa Cup last 16

Wed, Jan 24, 2024
Soccer News (AP)

ABIDJAN, Ivory Coast (AP) - Ivory Coast coach Jean-Louis Gasset has been fired despite the team still having a chance of qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations knockout stage.

The Ivorian Football Federation (FIF) said Wednesday that it was terminating the contracts of the French coach and his assistant "for insufficient results in accordance to the contract of objectives they had with the FIF."

Former Ivory Coast midfielder Emerse Fae was to take charge of the team on an interim basis.

Ivory Coast is hosting the Africa Cup but failed to secure automatic qualification to the tournament's knockout stage when it was beaten 4-0 by Equatorial Guinea in its final group game on Monday.

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It left the Elephants with just three points from three group games and reliant on results in other groups to finish among the best four third-place finishers for a place in the last 16.

Equatorial Guinea finished top of Group A with seven points, ahead of Nigeria on goal difference.

Wednesday's final group games in Groups E and F were to determine whether the host nation could squeeze into the knockout stage.

Gasset reportedly tendered his resignation to the president of the FIF, Yacine Idriss Diallo, right after the loss to Equatorial Guinea.

The defeat prompted some irate Ivorian fans to vandalize commuter buses outside the stadium.

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