The President of Fédération Ivoirienne de Football (FIF), Yacine Idriss Diallo has snubbed the Super Eagles of Nigeria as one of the tournament favourites for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, platinumnewsng.com is reporting.
In an interview with FourFourTwo, the Ivorian Football Federation President named three countries that he believes will compete for the prestigious African trophy.
“I trust our team (Côte d’Ivoire) but we know that we are not favourites. The favourites are Morocco, Senegal, Egypt, all those teams.
“We’re building a new team. If you see our team now, I think 30% are very young, it’s their first competition. But we will try to bring a very good squad to be ready.
“So we will try to do our best to go as far as possible and try to win the trophy. This is why we are here,” Diallo said.
The tournament will run from January 13 to February 11, 2024, across four major cities in Abidjan, Korhogo, San Pedro, and Yamoussoukro. Commenting on the readiness of his country, Diallo believes everything is in place in terms of preparations.
“This event means a lot of things for our country, it’s a very important event. Since 2014, when it was decided that Ivory Coast would organise this competition, our country put in a lot of money.
“But more than money, we put our heart in this organisation. And now I can say that we’re ready. We’re really ready. I can say that,” He added.
The Super Eagles of Nigeria are drawn up in Group A alongside hosts Côte d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau. , José Peseiro’s men will begin their campaign at this year’s tournament against Equatorial Guinea on Sunday, January 14 before taking on the hosts Ivory Coast in their second group game on Thursday, January 18 in Abidjan.