As the AFCON 2023 tournament heats up with the announcement of the 16 countries that will compete in the round of 16, football associations have been obliged to adopt stringent measures in response to their teams’ lamentable and unprecedented bad run of form in the campaign. With this in mind, below is a list of head coaches who have been fired or opted to retire as a result of their team’s bad performance in AFCON 2023.
AFCON 2023 has lived up to and beyond many people’s expectations. With unexpected game results, excellent officiating, and high-quality football. Drama on the pitch has not been the only one experienced thus far; numerous teams’ touchlines have also watched the drama firsthand, with the firing of their head coach.
The resignation and firing of coaches in this edition of AFCON has been unusual, with a high number of coaches being changed. With that in mind, we have produced a list of the six coaches that have resigned or been fired as a result of their AFCON 2023 performance.
The Tanzanian Football Association was the first to announce the dismissal of the team’s head coach, who had earned an 8-match suspension from CAF for his terrible remarks against World Cup 2022 semi-finalists Morocco at AFCON 2023.
Adel Amrouche was fired as Tanzania’s head coach following a 3-0 loss against Morocco, with many believing that the true reason for his dismissal was words he made about Morocco before to the start of AFCON 2023.
Who is Ivory Coast’s new coach at AFCON 2023?
Concerns were raised when a statement from the Ivorian football association confirmed that the head coach of the country’s men’s team, Jean-Louis Gasset had been sacked two days after their 4-0 defeat against Equatorial Guinea.
It was the heaviest home defeat in Ivory Coast history and they are the first Afcon host to lose two group games since they did so in 1984, fans were concerned to know who will fill the position left by the manager. It was also confirmed that the new coach of Ivory Coast on an interim basis will be one of Jean-Louis Gasset’s technical advisors, Emerse Fae.
With Ivory Coast securing a late qualification into the round of 16 of AFCON 2023 and will face Senegal in this stage, all eyes will be on Emerse Fae and the team as a whole.
Ghana sacks Chris Hughton after terrible AFCON 2023 outing
The Ghana Football Association has released an official statement confirming that Chris Hughton, the head coach of the Black Stars of Ghana, has been sacked. The statement was released in the early hours of Wednesday, January 24, 2024, and also announced the dissolution of the technical team. The decision was made following Ghana’s poor performance at the AFCON 2O23.
Hughton took over as head coach in 2023 and led the team to their first competitive stage at AFCON. Unfortunately, Ghana had one of their worst campaigns in AFCON 2023, which was disappointing considering the rich history of the Black Stars.
Coaches that resigned after crashing out of AFCON 2023
Gambia coach Tom Saintfiet resigns after AFCON 2023 exit
On Tuesday, January 23, 2024, Gambia’s hopes of winning the Africa Cup of Nations were shattered as they faced a dramatic exit from the tournament. The Scorpions’ final game in Group C against Cameroon ended with a score of 3-2 in favour of their opponents, which led to the decision of their 50-year-old Belgian coach, Tom Saintfiet, to resign from his position.
Despite creating a lot of excitement among fans and pundits alike, Gambia’s performance in the tournament was disappointing as they failed to secure any points and finished at the bottom of the group.
Algeria part ways with coach after back to back AFCON exits
Algeria has dismissed their head coach Djamel Belmadi immediately following their elimination in the group stage of the 2023 African Cup of Nations (AFCON). Algeria lost unexpectedly to Mauritania 1-0 on Tuesday night and drew twice against Angola and Burkina Faso, finishing last in the group with only two points.
Djamel Belmadi took to his social media platform to confirm the departure in a now translated message that read, “We apologize to the fans of the national team and the Algerian people, and we regret the way the warriors showed in the African Cup of Nations and the bitter exit from the first round, after we worked hard and provided ideal conditions for our players to shine and achieve the goal. Sorry again to the millions of Algerians who love their national team and will certainly not abandon it in the upcoming elections.”
Tunisia head coach Jalel Kadri steps down from his position after woeful AFCON 2023 campaign
In a surprising turn of events, head coach Jalel Kadri has announced his departure from the Tunisian national football team following a disappointing AFCON 2023 campaign. Tunisia, who was considered one of the favourites to win the tournament, finished last in their group, failing to win a single match.
Kadri, who had previously led the team to a historic victory over France in the World Cup in Qatar, faced heavy criticism from both fans and media alike for his team’s lacklustre performances in the tournament. The 0-0 draw against South Africa in their final group game was the final nail in the coffin of Kadri’s tenure as coach. In a post-match interview with the media, Kadri expressed his disappointment with the team’s performance, stating that he takes full responsibility for the failure to progress to the knockout stages of the tournament.
