Qualified for the round of 16 of the African Cup of Nations, Ivory Coast asked the French Football Federation for a loan of coach Hervé Renard, and the Federation’s response was quick.

The affair did not last long, but it surprised more than one person. For the first time in a long time, a national team involved in a tournament asked a foreign federation to lend it its coach.

Unfortunately for the Elephants, the French federation ultimately refused to release its coach.

Hervé Renard did not hide his frustration. “The negotiations did not result favorably, it was because it was not supposed to happen. I would have loved it, but fate chose otherwise,” he told Canal+.