Football - Cote D'Ivoire: Should Franck Kessié stay or hang up?

"He is heavy on the field like an Elephant", "He slows down the game of the Elephants", "He brings nothing to the midfield"... 

At the end of the match Egypt - Côte d'Ivoire, on January 9, 2026 in Agadir (3-2), compliments turned into jokes for Franck Kessié, author of a very average performance against the band to Mohamed Salah. The captain of the Pachydermes, 2023 African champion, received blows from all sides on social networks and in televised debates. Some critics even going so far as to ask for his departure from the Ivorian national team. Twelve years after wearing the orange jacket, is it time for him to say stop? 


After the elimination of Côte d'Ivoire in 2021, which took place in 2022 in Cameroon, Dao Gabala, then the boss of the Normalization Committee, said:

 "We are eliminated because there was no leader capable of pulling others up. I hope that in the future, Franck will take on this responsibility''. 

Three years later, the player from Al Ahli (Saudi Arabia) has taken full measure of this task. Respected captain, in-house manager with 101 matches for 15 goals, symbol of a victorious generation, Kessié remains one of the most emblematic faces of the Ivorian team.

Major contributor of the continental title won at home in 2023, he embodied stability, physical impact and leadership during a period marked by deep turbulences. His European experience with more than 300 matches (Milan, Barcelona, etc.), his volume of play and consistency have long made him a reliable, almost indisputable asset. His captain’s armband is therefore neither symbolic nor usurped. It is the result of a journey, acquired respect and real influence within the group. Asking the question of his future today does not amount to denying what he has contributed but to lucidly analyzing what he can still offer.

"The problem is not physical condition but positioning."

“I would say again. Kessié must continue with the Elephants because he embodies seriousness and experience. The midfielder of the Elephants needs new players but Kessié can stay in the group and serve as a standard-bearer, a guide for the younger ones," 

says Rash N'Guessan Kouassi, journalist and former head of the sports department of the Ivorian national radio. 

He is not the only one to think like that. 

"Stop or again? Does this mean we think that Kessié is finished. No, for me it’s over and over again. Kessié is the soul of the Côte d'Ivoire team currently. Many people made a bad reading of his match against Egypt and his AFCON 2025 as a whole. The problem with Kessié is not physical condition but positioning. He cannot play properly if he has around players with the same profile as him in the midfield. This generation of the Elephants is embodied by Kessié, we must build around him," 

explains Dago Charles, a former Elephant striker in the early 2000s.

An Ivorian midfield in need of reshuffles
The debate around Kessié goes far beyond his personal case. Many question the very architecture of the Ivorian midfielder.

 “We have had gaps in areas of play. One must have the honesty to say it,"

 the president of the FIF told Sport News Africa, coldly, before his departure for Djibouti where the CECAFA General Assembly took place on February 7, 2026.

 At the AFCON 2025, Côte d'Ivoire often aligned similar profiles in the core of the game, focusing more on physical impact than technical mastery. Result: a combative game but sometimes limited in chance creation and collective management of the game.

The emergence of more technical profiles, like Christ Inao Oulaï, has shown that another approach is possible. Better, players like Maho Dorgeles (Sporting Braga), Ahmed Traoré (Olympique de Marseille), Guiagon Parfait (Sporting Charleroi) or even Patrick Zabi (Reims) are perfectly adapted to the desired changes in the midfield of the African champions 1992, 2015 and 2023.

More mobile, these types of players bring a new breath. The question then becomes strategic: should Kessié remain the heart of this system or one of its secondary pillars? Already qualified for the 2026 World Cup, Côte d'Ivoire has a favorable context but little time to think about this issue. One thing is certain, Franck Kessié still has a role to play with the Elephants.