Yacine Idriss Diallo, President of the Ivorian Football Federation, expressed his gratitude to the Ivory Coast national team players despite their elimination from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations at the hands of Egypt in the quarter-finals.
Ivory Coast, the defending champions, saw their title defense come to an end after a 3-2 defeat to Egypt, bringing their AFCON 2025 journey to a close at the last-eight stage.
In an emotional address to the players after the match, Diallo said:
“Alright gentlemen, unfortunately our adventure in the Africa Cup of Nations ends this evening.
The objective we set for ourselves — bringing the trophy back home — will unfortunately not be achieved. This can be considered a failure because we did not reach our objectives.But for me, this is not a failure. First of all, I want to thank all of you, each and every one of you, individually.
Why? Because you left your families, you left your wives and children, you even left your clubs with the risk of losing your starting places, to answer the call of the nation. I have been with you since the beginning of the camp. I saw how you worked, I saw your seriousness, I saw how you sacrificed yourselves for the country.
But tonight, quite honestly, our opponents were stronger than us. This does not question your abilities, nor your qualities, nor our project. But we must clearly analyze our weaknesses, what did not work, and correct it. I live with you every day, I share your meals, your discussions, your training sessions.
And we all here know what the coach said in the technical talk: that the most important thing in the world is concentration. Unfortunately, experience tells us that playing against Egypt and conceding a goal after five minutes puts us in difficulty, because we spend the match chasing the score and we do not succeed. But on the technical level, lessons will be learned.
But I want to sincerely thank you for your commitment, for your involvement, for the work you have done. And I want, on your behalf, to thank the President of the Republic, who provided us with the resources through the government. I also want to thank all Ivorians who supported us. And I want to apologize to them if we did not achieve the expected result.
This is no one’s fault, and it is not the responsibility of any of these young players. It is the responsibility of the entire group. We are a group. If we had won, we would all be happy together. We lost, we are all sad together, but that does not erase the work that was done.
The coach and his staff will work on preparing for the next FIFA window in March, because we are building a project that aims to participate in the World Cup with the best possible performance, one that no Ivorian team has achieved before. That is the next objective. So individually, I thank you all.
I thank you and I wish you a safe return to your homes, to find your families again, to resume your hard work, to regain your places, and to keep in mind that when you are Ivorian, you can suffer, you can fall, but you must never give up. And we Ivorians never give up.
So gentlemen, the fight continues and I trust you. Thank you.
It is true that we made mistakes, but you fought until the end, until the very last moment. And against a team like Egypt, to be down 2-0, then come back to 2-1, then concede a third goal, then come back to 3-2 and make them suffer until the end — that is something big.
There are not many teams capable of doing that. So we leave here all frustrated, but with our heads held high. Let this defeat be a lesson for the future. The President said that a World Cup is coming very soon, with matches like these — all matches like these — matches at World Cup level. We must be ready for these matches and learn from our mistakes so we do not repeat them.
So congratulations to everyone. Return safely to your clubs, regain your places, have a good season, a good end to the season, a good second half of the season, and we will meet again in March to prepare for the World Cup.
Alright gentlemen, congratulations again to all of you.”
Egypt, meanwhile, eliminated the reigning champions — who won the previous AFCON edition on home soil against Nigeria — to book a semi-final clash against Senegal, who defeated Mali 1-0.
Egypt’s goals were scored by Omar Marmoush, Rami Rabia, and Mohamed Salah, while Ivory Coast’s goals came from an Ahmed Fattouh own goal and Gila Doué.
