Ivory Coast coach Emerse Fae has backed the decision to play the Africa Cup of Nations every four years instead of two, saying that the change could benefit the development of football on the continent.
“It can be a good thing if alongside that we do what we need to do for the development of African football,” he told AFP. The Cup of Nations has almost always been held at two-year intervals since the first edition in 1957 but Confederation of African Football president Patrice Motsepe announced the change on the eve of the ongoing tournament in Morocco.
Motsepe said that the tournament would go ahead every four years after the next two editions planned for 2027 and 2028, a decision that has been heavily criticised by some on the continent who see it as bowing to pressure from leading European clubs and FIFA. He said an annual African Nations League – along the lines of the UEFA Nations League – would instead be introduced to boost the coffers of national federations.
“We are lucky in Africa now to have better infrastructure, better structured teams, better players, most of whom play for the best teams in Europe,” added Fae, who led the Elephants to the AFCON title in 2024. “Holding the AFCON every four years would mean having a major tournament every two years with the World Cup too, but there needs to be another major competition in Africa like the planned Nations League.
“That would allow us to have games between teams like Morocco and Senegal every year, or Ivory Coast against Tunisia and Algeria against Mali. “And I don’t think that would penalise the smaller nations because I don’t know that them losing games 5-0 or 6-0 really raises the level of African football. “If they play against other teams of their level with the aim of being promoted, I think everyone will be a winner.”
Meanwhile Fae admitted retaining the AFCON crown at the ongoing edition in Morocco is a hard task for his team. Ivory Coast are already through to the last 16 before playing their final group game on Wednesday against Gabon.
“There are eight or nine teams with squads that can win it, and I feel like teams play differently against us because we are the reigning champions,” Fae admitted. “That makes things even harder, but we are motivated to go all the way and we are confident too.”
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