Kouame Autonne channels spirit of Kolo and Yaya Toure as he gears up for UAE debut

Al Ain defender’s decision to swap Ivory Coast for Khorfakkan five years ago has paid dividends after call-up to national team

Al Ain's Kouame Autonne has been called up to the UAE national team for their upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Chris Whiteoak / The National

It is fair enough that Kouame Autonne is a little reticent about speaking. Understandably, he is looking to get into the AC of the team bus and straight on the road back to Al Ain.

After all, he has just played 90 minutes – plus the extensive additional time the officials spent consulting VAR – in conditions that started out touching 50º C on the feels-like scale.

Plus, his side – champions of Asia and all that – have just let slip a 3-0 lead to end up drawing with unheralded Al Bataeh. Any shows of mirth would be frowned upon at a time like this.

But as he tries to slip through the mixed zone unnoticed, he is in demand. And, two Pro League points lost notwithstanding, this should be a day for celebration for the 22-year-old defender.

Five years after packing his bags and leaving his family behind in Ivory Coast to head to the east coast of the UAE, and a year after gaining Emirati citizenship, he has been called up for the national team for the first time.

Paulo Bento’s squad announcement last week for the first matches of the next round of World Cup qualifying is a potentially seismic one.

It includes newly naturalised players, like Autonne, as well as UAE-qualified ones based abroad, such as Dubai-born striker Junior Ndiaye, who played for France at age-group level, and Dubai-raised Mackenzie Hunt, formerly of Everton.

It shows the face of the UAE national team is changing. As other countries before them have done, they are using eligibility regulations to cast their net further than ever before.

Judged by Autonne’s demeanour, he is well aware of the privilege that has been afforded to him with selection for the national team of his adopted country.

Convention might dictate that the mood be downbeat after the result his side just suffered, but he can’t help a broad smile escaping.

“I hope I can give more power to the team and I can’t wait to be out there with the guys,” Autonne said.

“I saw the list in the morning and I was so surprised. A few months ago they had told me they were looking at me so I was waiting for this.

Al Ains' Kouame Autonne battles for the ball with Yokohama's Anderson Lopes in their AFC Champions League final second leg. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“Now this has happened and I am so happy to go there. We will see what is going to happen.”

Whether Autonne makes the starting line up for the UAE’s fixtures against Qatar, in Doha on Thursday evening, or at his club side’s home ground against Iran on Tuesday, remains to be seen.

But he has merited his call-up by dint of his form on the left side of the defence for an Al Ain side that became Asian champions for a second time last season.

“Kouame is a big addition for the national team,” said Khalid Al Hashemi, his colleague in the Al Ain backline and potentially in the UAE side.

“His performances for Al Ain have shown the qualities he can provide for the team and that is why the national team coach has picked him for the upcoming games. I wish him all the best and the national team luck in these two games.”

When he set out from his native Ivory Coast to take up a contract with Khorfakkan in the UAE in 2019, did Autonne harbour the dream that he might one day represent his new home at football?

“No, never,” Autonne said. “I am so surprised to be here right now. [But] I am proud of myself. Only God knows what is going to happen to you in life and I have just followed what he has given to me.

“In life, you have to make choices. If it is not a good choice, you will still learn from it. That is what I did.

“I was not sure about what I was coming to here. God pushed me, and now I am here. I have done a great job and I think I deserve it.”

Autonne’s path to the international game might have been a circuitous one, but his foundations were strong. His youth career was spent at ASEC Mimosas, a prolific academy in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s largest city.

The club has produced a variety of celebrated international players before, such as Bonaventure Kalou, Didier Zokora, Salomon Kalou, and Kolo and Yaya Toure.

He said the Toures had given him advice in the past, and he would like to emulate what they achieved on the international stage.

“I hope I can do similar, or maybe even more than them – you never know,” Autonne said.

Kouame Autonne moved to UAE football five years ago and has now moved up to the national team. Chris Whiteoak / The National

“They are really, really great players. I used to talk to them before. They are really good guys who have given me advice.

“I will do my best to do what they did in their careers.”

He hopes lots of people back at home will be proud of what he has achieved – and he knows for certain he will have one particularly vociferous fan club cheering him on from afar.

“I called my mum, and I sent a picture [of the squad list] for my sisters to see,” he said of who he first contacted after finding out he had been selected.

“They were very happy for me. They have kept pushing and supporting me, and I am doing this for them. I am so happy to be able to do this for them.”