Will Still kept Lens competitive last season despite losing key players. They’re climbing even higher under Pierre Sage By Get French Football News When the Lens president, Joseph Oughourlian, set out the club’s “number one objective” before the season, he did not mention European qualification, a points target or even a cup run. The task at hand was to “rediscover financial solidity”. Sporting ambitions have taken a backseat role at Lens since Oughourlian announced the introduction of austerity measures in the summer of 2024. His words have been mirrored in the club’s actions. Since running Paris Saint-Germain close for the title in the 2022-23 season, when they finished just one point behind the eventual champions, the Lens squad has been decimated. First, it was Seko Fofana and Loïs Openda; then it was Abdukodir Khusanov, Elye Wahi, Brice Samba and Kevin Danso; and this summer it was Neil El-Aynaoui, Andy Diouf and Facundo Medina. Continue reading...

Crystal Palace forward Jean-Philippe Mateta says he has no issues with former team-mate Wilfried Zaha after an apparent falling-out.

Midfielder comes off bench in 82nd minute in La Liga Partey, 32, has denied rape and sexual assault charges Thomas Partey was greeted with some whistles, a little applause and no major protest as he made his competitive debut for Villarreal. The 32-year-old former Arsenal midfielder has been released on bail, charged with five counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, which he denies, and his signing had drawn complaints from supporters in Spain but on his first La Liga appearance at the Estadio de la Cerámica on Friday night there was mostly indifference. Partey was introduced in the 82nd minute, alongside Alfonso Pedraza, with Santi Comesaña and Nicolas Pépé making way. As the two players entered the pitch, with Villarreal already 2-0 up against Real Oviedo and the game drifting to a conclusion, some whistles could be heard among the clapping. Partey touched the ball 13 times, and the first four or five of those were met more clearly with whistles, although they soon faded. They did not come from a particularly significant portion of the crowd. There was also some timid applause in response to the whistles. Continue reading...

The £64m man makes his home debut in friendly as Mikel Arteta talks about his ambitions for new season New season, same old Arsenal? On an evening when Viktor Gyökeres was meant to announce himself as the solution to all of Mikel Arteta’s problems, instead it was a figure from Arsenal’s past who stole the show. At £72m – £8m more than they may end up paying for the Sweden striker – Nicolas Pépé was an expensive Arsenal signing, a few months before Arteta replaced Unai Emery in 2019. Most of the fans who packed out the Emirates Stadium for this pre-season friendly will not have many fond memories of the Ivory Coast international’s spell in north London, but he clearly had a point to prove here. Continue reading...

Wilfried Zaha joins Major League Soccer side Charlotte FC on loan until January 2026, with an option to extend until June 2026.

Former Crystal Palace and Manchester United winger Wilfried Zaha joins Lyon on a season-long loan from Galatasaray.

Emerse Fae appointed Ivory Coast coach on a permanent deal after leading the Elephants to the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations title.

Thousands of jubilant Ivory Coast supporters took to Abidjan’s city streets on Monday to celebrate the country’s Africa Cup of Nations victory. Fans blew whistles, sung and chanted as they waited to see the team pass through the city. The Elephants defeated Nigeria 2-1 in Sunday’s Afcon final to claim the country’s third title after wins in 1992 and 2015. It set off unbridled celebrations that lasted through the night in Abidjan and beyond. Haller the hero as Ivory Coast seal improbable Afcon win against Nigeria Continue reading...

After suffering the biggest tournament defeat since Brazil at the 2014 World Cup and sacking their coach mid-stream, the hosts lifted the trophy on SundaySign up to Jonathan’s weekly newsletter here It was the biggest defeat a tournament host of the Africa Cup of Nations had ever suffered. Ivory Coast fell apart utterly in the second half of their final group game against Equatorial Guinea. If they’d retained a sense of perspective, they’d have realised that even a one- or two-goal defeat was likely to be enough to see them through, but their heads were gone and Emilio Nsue kept scoring the same goal. It finished 4-0, the largest defeat for any major tournament host since Brazil’s 7-1 capitulation against Germany in the 2014 World Cup semi-final, and that made progress improbable. The past three weeks have been the story of what followed. There was some low-key rioting, with cars and shops burned out. Ivory Coast’s 70-year-old French coach Jean-Louis Gasset was sacked. On his 40th birthday, the former Reading midfielder Emerse Faé was appointed, having never been a head coach before. He had no idea whether he’d have any matches to take charge of. But Ghana conceded twice in injury-time against Mozambique, Zambia lost to Morocco and Ivory Coast made it to the last 16 not so much through the back door, as up the tree and through the bathroom window. Continue reading...

Ivory Coast's interim head coach, Emerse Faé, called the win over Nigeria in the African Cup of Nations final 'more than a fairytale' admitting 'frankly, I still can't believe we've done it'. Nigeria's captain, William Troost-Ekong, scored in the 38th minute against the run of play with a header from a corner but the Super Eagles were outplayed in the first half and only threatened again after Sébastien Haller scored his second goal of the tournament. Nigeria's head coach, José Peseiro, praised his team for 'a fantastic tournament' but admitted that in this game 'Côte d'Ivoire was better'. Haller the hero as Ivory Coast seal improbable Afcon win against Nigeria Continue reading...

Minute-by-minute report of the 8pm GMT kick-off in AbidjanDR Congo squad protest for peace in their country Hello and welcome to live coverage of the Africa Cup of Nations final between Nigeria and Ivory Coast in Abidjan. Twenty-five days ago, in the 87th minute of his side’s final group game, Zambia’s Barbra Banda whistled a rising drive from 25 yards that was dramatically tipped over the bar by the Morocco keeper Bono. Had it gone in, Zambia would have qualified as one of the best third-placed teams and the hosts Ivory Coast – who had already sacked their manager Jean-Louis Gasset – would have gone out in disgrace. Instead they sneaked through to the knockout stages, where they dodged several bullets against Senegal and Mali before beating DR Congo in the semi-finals. Now they, and their caretaker manager Emerse Fae, are one game away from a peculiarly glorious triumph. Continue reading...

With Cape Verde, Angola, Mauritania and Equatorial Guinea all making an impression, this Cup of Nations is full of positives And so, after a tournament of shocks, the final of the Africa Cup of Nations will be a meeting of the 2015 and 2013 winners, Ivory Coast against Nigeria. But if the finalists feel familiar, the tournament has not. Tournaments often pursue their own logic but, developing certain themes from the last edition in Cameroon, this Cup of Nations has felt like significant progress. For Ivory Coast, the mood has changed radically over the past two weeks. After the anger of the group stage, which led to cars being burned out after the 4-0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea seemed to have eliminated them, Ivory Coast have ridden a wave of disbelieving euphoria. They made it past Senegal, despite being 1-0 down after 86 minutes; Mali, again trailing 1-0 and down to 10 men after 90 minutes; and then, more comfortably, DR Congo, 1-0 in the semi-final. With Sébastien Haller and Simon Adingra returning to fitness, the sense of miracles has waned and the hosts now look the very good team they were expected to be before the start of the tournament. Continue reading...

Kolo Toure says Ivory Coast will have a massive party if the Elephants beat Nigeria in the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations final.

Some countries plan for tournaments for years, work on plans and development and DNA, meticulously lay out their blueprint for success. And some just wing it, finding amid the chaos a sense of purpose and momentum that, being unexpected, somehow makes them all the more potent. Ivory Coast have looked out of this tournament on at least three occasions and replaced their coach but they will face Nigeria in Sunday’s final. Nobody could say they dominated but, after an edgy start, it was probably Ivory Coast’s most impressive display of the tournament so far as the Saudi-based pair of Franck Kessié and Seko Fofana gave them control of midfield in the second half and their first 90-minute win of the knockout phase. Sébastien Haller, making his first start of the tournament, got the only goal after 65 minutes which, by recent Ivorian standards, felt almost like scoring in the prelude. Continue reading...