By: Emmanuel Abi Couson
Host nation of the ongoing Africa Cup of Nation (AFCON) 2023 Ivory Coast is set to loan Les Bleues manager Hervé Renard until the end of the ongoing tournament.
Hervé Renard is no stranger to Ivorian and African football, having previously coached the Ivorian national team as well as Zambian and Moroccan becoming the first coach to win two Africa Cup of Nations with different countries, Zambia (2012) and Ivory Coast (2015), respectively.
The Ivorians are currently without a coach following the sack of Jean-Louis Gasset after the country fell to a 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea in their last group-stage match in the competition.
According to L’Équipe, the Ivorian FA has contacted its counterpart, the French Football Federation (FFF), to loan Renard, who is the current coach of the France women’s national team.
It also states that the deal is not to take the 55-year-old away from the women’s team, as he’s under contract until the Olympic Games in August 2024, but to bring him on board for a short period.
Ivory Coast qualified as one of the four best losers with 3 points. The Elephants won just one game, losing the other two.
The team faces a tough task as they face one of the tournament’s favourites, Senegal, in their round-of-16 game at the Charles Konan Banny Stadium, Yamoussoukro, on Monday, January 29.
