AFCON-winning boss Emerse Faé says African coaches match the world's best, but only if the continent's leaders give them time and backing.
Emerse Faé, the man who led Ivory Coast to AFCON glory on home soil in 2023, has made a bold case for African coaching talent: it stands level with anything Europe or South America can offer. What the continent must do, he says, is stop undermining it.
Speaking at a CAF strategic conference in Cape Verde last week, the former Elephants head coach urged football leaders across Africa to rethink how technical staff are treated. His main target was the habit of sacking coaches after a run of poor results, which he argues robs them of the chance to install a philosophy and build a recognisable style of play.
Faé was direct about what real progress requires. African leaders, he said, must give coaching staff the space to work, because the ideas are there but football does not change overnight. Hard work and patience, in his view, are the foundations of any lasting project.
His message was twofold: let coaches get on with the job, and give them the conditions to do it properly. He insisted that African coaches are every bit as good as their foreign counterparts. Coming from a coach who lifted the continent's biggest trophy at home, the claim carries real weight, and it lands as a challenge to federations to back local expertise with stability, not just short-term expectations.
