Madagascar's dream of the African Cup of Nations has come to an end, and coach Nicolas DeBoy said the team is at risk of becoming one of the "one-time" wonders of the tournament unless radical changes are made to the game.
The island in the Indian Ocean challenged the expectations of all observers to reach the quarter-finals in the first appearance of the championship. But after a 3-0 defeat to Tunisia on Thursday, DeBoy, who works with a fourth division team in France to increase his income, warned that the road was still long.
"There is a lot of work to be done with the Madagascar team, we need to build on the work that has been done to show that hard work is paying off, otherwise it will be irreversible," he said. .
Madagascar, ahead of the start of the tournament, is not one of the undefeated teams for the country's size, with more than half a million square kilometers and a population of 25 million, but a lack of football traditions.
The country has no professional league, lacks the infrastructure for football, and plays its top players abroad, most of them in the French second division.
Madagascar did not come close to qualifying for the World Cup and did not participate in the African Nations Cup qualifiers until 1980. After that, the team withdrew several times in the 1990s and dropped to 187 out of 211 in the 2014 FIFA rankings.
At present, the FA is under the control of FIFA after failing to hold presidential elections in line with the regulations of the International Foundation, and has no president.
"It's not enough to pay for his living expenses - he's not sure he'll stay in office,
"I am a person of my own, Madagascar is my priority, I do not know whether Madagascar's priorities are to keep me, but that does not matter much."
"I have a lot of attachment to the players and the country," DeBoy said, adding that he was very pleased with the support he received from the people of Madagascar.