Emerse Faé again! He was part of the French team that beat Nigeria’s Golden Eaglets at the 2001 U-17 World Cup final match. He master-minded the Super Eagles defeat at the Africa Cup of Nations 2023 final match.

He is set to hunt the Super Eagles again. He has been handed the role of Draw Assistant in Thursday’s 2025 Africa Cup of Nations’ qualifying competition draw. Figuratively, the Super Eagles’ fate is in his hands.

He is expected to arrive in South Africa on Wednesday ahead of Thursday’s Draw for the Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 Qualifiers Draw.

He will be one of the Draw Assistants for the draw. Nigeria Super Eagles go into the draw pots without any coach, or even one in view.

The Qualifiers Draw will take place in Johannesburg, South Africa on Thursday 4 July 2024 at 14h30 local time and 1.30 pm in Nigeria)

Faé etched his name in the history books of Ivorian football in February, when he guided the Elephants to continental glory after an initial set back, which saw him take over the reins in an interim position from the knockout stages to the final.

The 40-year-old masterminded one of football’s most dramatic turnaround stories, guiding Cote d’Ivoire to their third African title through series of nail-biting encounters, which culminated in the final against Nigeria, which they won.

He was subsequently named substantive coach, allowing him to chart a new path in a career that barely took off months ago.

Faé is living the dream he’s always wanted. As a professional player, his career was cut short by injuries. He played at French club Nantes, where he spent the majority of his career between 2003 and 2007.

From 2007 to 2009, he played for Reading FC before finishing his career at OGC Nice, where he stayed between 2009 and 2012. He retired on February 1, 2012, at just 28 years old.

Faé’s coaching career started with the U19 team at French club Nice in 2012, where he learnt the ropes until 2021 before taking charge of the reserve team at Clermont Foot 63.

In 2022, he became Jean-Louis Gasset’s assistant for the Elephants, only to replace him after the latter was given the sack in the middle of a tumultuous  AFCON start.

The Qualifiers draw will herald what promises to be another exciting start to a successful  AFCON after the historic one in Cote d’Ivoire, which got the world talking.

The Qualified Nations for the Qualifiers Draw: 

Morocco (hosts), Cote d’Ivoire, Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, DR Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome & Principe, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.