{"id":109233,"date":"2023-10-11T10:41:57","date_gmt":"2023-10-11T10:41:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/10\/11\/ivory-coast-legend-yaya-toure-wants-more-black-managers\/"},"modified":"2023-10-11T10:41:57","modified_gmt":"2023-10-11T10:41:57","slug":"ivory-coast-legend-yaya-toure-wants-more-black-managers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2023\/10\/11\/ivory-coast-legend-yaya-toure-wants-more-black-managers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivory Coast legend Yaya Toure wants more black managers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Yaya Toure is currently assistant coach at Belgian side Standard Liege having previously worked as a coach at the Tottenham Hotspur academy
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Ivory Coast legend Yaya Toure hopes he and his brother Kolo can pave the way for more black managers in the professional game.<\/p>\n

The former Manchester City and Barcelona midfielder had short stints coaching in Ukraine and Russia before\u00a0joining Tottenham as Under-16s coach\u00a0in 2022.<\/p>\n

Toure, 40, left Spurs in June for an assistant coach role at Belgian side Standard Liege.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI want to see diversity,\u201d Toure told\u00a0the BBC Match of the Day Africa Top 10 \u201cGreatest Afcon Manager\u201d podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of the time people have questioned whether Africans or black coaches would be able to take lessons properly and get involved in managerial roles.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think now they\u2019re going to have the answer soon.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy brother was first \u2013 he started it [coaching], and I was second. Let\u2019s see. I\u2019m just challenging myself at a high level in Europe and we\u2019ll see if opportunities come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Yaya
Yaya Toure captained Ivory Coast to their second Africa Cup of Nations triumph in 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yaya\u2019s older brother, Kolo, 42, played in the Premier League for Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool between 2003 and 2016. He was appointed manager of Wigan last November.<\/p>\n

The spell lasted only nine matches as, after six defeats, he was sacked by Wigan in January with the club bottom of the Championship, where they finished as they were relegated to League One.<\/p>\n

The brothers were part of the Ivory Coast team that won the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Equatorial Guinea under Yaya\u2019s captaincy in 2015.<\/p>\n

It was the second time the Elephants had won the trophy after tasting Afcon success in 1992 in Senegal.<\/p>\n

Emulating previous Afcon coaching success<\/h3>\n

Only two men in history have won Afcon as players and coaches.<\/p>\n

The late Stephen Keshi was part of Nigeria\u2019s winning team in 1994 and then coached the Super Eagles to success in 2013.<\/p>\n

Before that, Mahmoud El-Gohary won Afcon as a player with Egypt in 1959 and then as their coach in 1998.<\/p>\n

Toure, who is expected to attend\u00a0Thursday\u2019s Afcon draw in Ivory Coast, wants to become the third man in African football history to achieve the feat and hopes he gets a chance to coach his country one day.<\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely, definitely,\u201d he said. \u201cBecause a few years ago there was a chance to be manager of the national team. Myself, I didn\u2019t see me [doing it] in that moment, but it was an option.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of friends asked me to do it, but I didn\u2019t want to do that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter that, [jobs] came up in Europe, and I preferred to coach here [in Europe]. But let\u2019s see what\u2019s going on. I\u2019m definitely up to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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