Jean-Louis Gasset has been sacked as coach of 2023 Africa Cup of Nations hosts Ivory Coast, two days after their humiliating 4-0 thrashing by Equatorial Guinea in Abidjan.
It was Ivory Coast’s heaviest-ever home defeat and they are the first Afcon host to lose two group games since the Ivorians themselves did so in 1984.
In a statement, the Ivorian federation confirmed they had “terminated the contracts” of Gasset and his assistant Ghislain Printant “due to insufficient results”.
The Elephants, who still carry faint hopes of progressing to the last sixteen as one of the best third-placed teams, will now be led by Emerse Fae on an interim basis, another of Gasset’s deputy coaches.
Ivory Coast finished on three points in Group A having also lost 1-0 to Nigeria. They opened with a 2-0 win over Guinea-Bissau.
The hosts will now be sweating on the results of the very last group games on Wednesday to see if they can sneak through.
Gasset, 70, was appointed by the Ivorian federation in May 2022.
The former Bordeaux coach replaced his compatriot Patrice Beaumelle, whose contract was not renewed after the Elephants missed out on 2022 World Cup qualification and suffered a last-16 exit at the last Nations Cup in Cameroon.