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The continent’s most prestigious tournament gets underway in less than two weeks with Ghana hoping to end its 41-year trophy drought.

However, the former Manchester City midfielder believes his country, Morocco, Senegal, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau and South Africa are the favourites for the tournament.

“It’s normal to have a preference for your own country,” Toure, who won the AFCON in 2015, is quoted as saying by Afrique Sports.

“Côte d’Ivoire has a strong team and many talented and experienced players. But if I had to choose the teams I think are favourites, I’d say Senegal, Morocco, Guinea-Bissau, and South Africa. They had an impressive qualifying campaign,” he added.

Meanwhile, Ghana has been paired in Group B alongside Egypt, Cape Verde and Mozambique.

The Black Stars will officially open camp on December 31 in South Africa with the final 27-man squad expected to be named on January 3.

The 34th edition of the AFCON has been scheduled to kick off from January 13 to February 11. 

The 40-year-old will be working with Roberto Mancini, who managed him at Manchester City.

Mancini was named Saudi Arabia’s head coach in August and has taken charge of four matches since then.

Toure, who played for City from for eight years after signing in 2010, started coaching in 2019 and leaves his role at Belgian club Standard Liege.

The former Barcelona midfielder has also spent time working with Ukrainian club Donetsk Olympic, Russia’s Grozny, and as an academy coach at Tottenham Hotspur.

During his playing career Toure earned 101 caps for Ivory Coast, winning the Africa Cup of Nations in 2015, as well as 18 trophies in club football across spells in Greece, Spain, England and China.

The former Manchester City and Barcelona midfielder had short stints coaching in Ukraine and Russia before joining Tottenham as Under-16s coach in 2022.

Toure, 40, left Spurs in June for an assistant coach role at Belgian side Standard Liege.

“I want to see diversity,” Toure told the BBC Match of the Day Africa Top 10 “Greatest Afcon Manager” podcast.

“Most of the time people have questioned whether Africans or black coaches would be able to take lessons properly and get involved in managerial roles.

“I think now they’re going to have the answer soon.

“My brother was first – he started it [coaching], and I was second. Let’s see. I’m just challenging myself at a high level in Europe and we’ll see if opportunities come in.”

Yaya’s 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.

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.

The brothers were part of the Ivory Coast team that won the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Equatorial Guinea under Yaya’s captaincy in 2015.

It was the second time the Elephants had won the trophy after tasting Afcon success in 1992 in Senegal.

Emulating previous Afcon coaching success

Only two men in history have won Afcon as players and coaches.

The late Stephen Keshi was part of Nigeria’s winning team in 1994 and then coached the Super Eagles to success in 2013.

Before that, Mahmoud El-Gohary won Afcon as a player with Egypt in 1959 and then as their coach in 1998.

Toure, who is expected to attend Thursday’s 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.

“Definitely, definitely,” he said. “Because a few years ago there was a chance to be manager of the national team. Myself, I didn’t see me [doing it] in that moment, but it was an option.

“A lot of friends asked me to do it, but I didn’t want to do that.

“After that, [jobs] came up in Europe, and I preferred to coach here [in Europe]. But let’s see what’s going on. I’m definitely up to it.”

Senegal forward Mane scored 21 goals in 67 Premier League appearances for Saints from 2014-2016 before signing for Liverpool for £34m.

He went on to become an integral part of Jurgen Klopp’s side which won the 2019 Champions League and the Reds’ first Premier League title in 2019-20.

“I always wanted to play with him [Mane],” Toure said.

Toure spent eight years at City from 2010-2018, winning the club’s first Premier League title and the FA Cup.

Speaking on Match of the Day Africa: Top 10 about the Premier League’s best African player, the former Ivory Coast midfielder, 40, said: “When I was at City, at the time when he was at Southampton, I highly regarded him and I was asking some of my superiors to just sign him. But in the end it just didn’t happen.

“After that Klopp had the eyes to get him and now look what he did for Liverpool, he was brilliant. I like him, I like him as a player.”

Mane joined Bayern Munich in June 2022 for £35m after scoring 120 goals in 269 games and winning six major honours at Anfield.

Toure says the Senegal captain is a “big example” for his work outside of football.

In March 2020 Mane donated £41,000 to his national committee fighting against coronavirus. He also donated 300 Liverpool shirts prior to Liverpool’s 2018 Champions League final loss to Real Madrid for locals in his hometown of Senegal to wear during the game.

“The way he deals with things smoothly and the support he gives back to his people in his country is incredible, with what he’s been involved with,” Toure added.

“Some days I get mad when I read media about him and a journalist will ask him, ‘Why don’t you have a Ferrari and things’, and he says, ‘No, I don’t need it, I prefer to have a normal car than have a Ferrari’.

“Two months later we see him, he’s been doing things back in his home country, he’s a big example.”

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Arsenal sit top of the league with five points clear of Manchester City.

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“Yeah, he’s brilliant, it is nice to see,” Toure told talkSPORT.

“I think now, every weekend when Arsenal have to play, I have to be honest, I would go just to watch him. He’s just unbelievable,” he said.

He is expected to continue his impressive run when the Gunners host Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League on Thursday.

Partey is expected to play an important role for the Black Stars in the upcoming 2023 AFCON qualifiers against Anogla this month in a doubleheader.