Ivory Coast Coach Emerse Fae Describes 2023 AFCON Win As ‘Revenge’

Ivory Coast head coach, Emerse Fae has described leading the country to win the 2023 AFCON in front of 60,000 spectators as a “revenge”.

Emerse Fae wasn’t expected to be the focal point for Ivory Coast when the 2023 AFCON started in the country on January 13.

After Ivory Coast lost 1-0 to the Super Eagles of Nigeria and 4-0 to Equatorial Guinea in the group stage of the competition, the Ivorian football federation decided to sack the team’s coach, Jean-Louis Gasset.

After trying to get a foreign coach in futility, the Ivorian FA decided to settle with Emerse Fae who was an assistant coach to Gasset.

To the dismay of most football enthusiasts, Fae turned the misfortunes of Ivory Coast into fortunes after the country managed to qualify for the round of 16.

He led the country to the 2023 AFCON final where they came from a goal down to beat Nigeria 2-1 and won their 3rd AFCON title.

In an interview with the BBC, Emerse Fae said winning the 2023 AFCON is “revenge on life” because he was forced to retire from professional football at 28-year-old due to a health condition.

“It’s revenge for me, on football and life in general, because I had to stop playing at 28 as it was jeopardizing my health,” Fae told Newsday on the BBC World Service.

“Since then, I’ve decided I was going to win every trophy as a manager that I did not win as a player. I had this idea in mind for a very long time.”

Emerse Fae who is now 40-year-old was born in Nantes, France, and played for France’s youth teams but decided to represent Ivory Coast at the senior level.

He played for Ivory Coast in the 2006 AFCON but couldn’t play for the country in the 2015 edition of the tournament, which the Elephants won, because he was battling with vein inflammation issues.

Since he was forced to retire from professional football in 2012, he has served as Nice’s youth teams’ coach and French Ligue 1 club Clermont manager before he was appointed as Gasset’s assistant coach in May 2022.