Ivory Coast’s head coach, Émerse Faé, reacted to the 2025 Morocco Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier draw, held on Thursday afternoon at the SuperSport studios in Johannesburg.
The AFCON defending champions were placed in Group G alongside Zambia, Sierra Leone, and Chad for the qualifiers, which will begin in September 2024 and end in November 2024.
The top two teams from each of the eleven groups, except for Group B, where hosts, Morocco has been placed, will advance to the tournament.
“It’s a group within our reach,” Faé who was part of the draw in South Africa, told the Fédération Ivoirienne de Football media. “I’m happy with the draw, happy with Group G we’re in.”
“In Africa there are no small teams” – Faé
Faé believes they were not drawn with the best teams, but he is aware that there are no small teams in Africa and has admitted that he knows little about the other teams, with the exception of Zambia.
“Zambia, Sierra Leone, and Chad. This is a group that is within our reach. It wasn’t necessarily the best teams were drawn from different pots, even though today in Africa there are no small teams,” he said.
“So we need to concentrate on each team. Anyway, am happy about the draw, especially since we have a team we already know: Zambia. And two teams that we don’t know much about but aren’t too far from Ivory Coast. So it will save us from long commutes, long journeys. This is a good thing.”
The 40-year-old took over as interim coach of the Elephants after Jean-Louis Gasset left during the group stage of the AFCON finals earlier this year. He admitted that Zambia is a difficult team to face.
“Zambia is a very difficult team to play. They have some really good players, especially offensively fast players. Defensively, it’s athletic and tough.
“They also beat us in the final [of 2023 AFCON] qualifiers, 3-0 at home. So we got to revenge on them, but it’s going to be a tough game.”
Zambia and Ivory Coast have met ten times since 1974 across all competitions with the Chipolopolo recording, six victories and losing three times while one game ended in a draw.
Meanwhile, the 2025 AFCON will kick off from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026 in Morocco.
