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The Ivory Coast national football team (French: Équipe de football de Côte d'Ivoire), represents Ivory Coast, formally the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire, in men's international football. Nicknamed the Elephants, the team is managed by the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF). Until 2005, their greatest accomplishment was winning the 1992 African Cup of Nations against Ghana on penalties at the Stade Léopold Sédar Senghor in Dakar, Senegal. Their second success came in the 2015, again defeating Ghana on penalties in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

The team had their best run between 2006 and 2014 when they qualified for three consecutive FIFA World Cups.

History

1960s

The team played its first international match against Dahomey, now known as Benin, which they won 3–2 on 13 April 1960 in Madagascar.

The team took a large 11–0 victory against the Central African Republic. In 1961 the team made their first appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations. After gaining independence from France, the team finished third in the 1963 and 1965 tournaments.

1970s

Ivory Coat's performances in the 1970s were mixed. In the 1970 African Cup of Nations, the team finished top of their group, but lost to Ghana - the powerhouses of African football at the time - in the semi-finals, and went on to finish 4th after losing the third-place play-off to the United Arab Republic (now Egypt). They failed to qualify for the 1972 edition, losing 4-3 to Congo-Brazzaville in the final qualifying round. They qualified in 1974 but finished bottom of their group with only a single point, then failed to qualify in 1976, again losing to Congo-Brazzaville (now simply known as the Congo) in the first round.

The team initially qualified for 1978, beating Mali 2-1 on aggregate, but were disqualified for fielding an ineligible player in the second leg. Mali were also disqualified, due to police and stadium security assaulting the match officials during the first leg, and so Upper Volta, who Ivory Coast had beaten in the first qualifying round, inherited their place.

1980s

In 1984, the team hosted the African Cup of Nations for the first time, but failed to get out of their group. In 1986, they narrowly qualified from their group on goals scored, and went on to finish third once more, beating Morocco 3-2 in the third-place play-off.

1990s

At the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations, Ivory Coast beat Algeria 3–0 and drew 0–0 with Congo to finish top of their group. An extra-time victory over Zambia and a penalty shoot-out win over Cameroon took them to the final for the first time, where they faced Ghana. The match again went to a penalty shoot-out, which became (at the time) the highest-scoring in international football; Ivory Coast eventually triumphed 11-10 to win the title for the first time. They were unable to defend their title in 1994, losing to Nigeria in the semi-finals.

The Ivory Coast team is notable for having participated in (and won) the two highest-scoring penalty shoot-outs in international football competition — the 24-shot shoot-out in the final of the 1992 African Cup of Nations when Ghana was defeated 11–10, and the 24-shot shoot-out in the quarter-final of the 2006 African Cup of Nations, when Cameroon was defeated 12–11. In 2015, Ivory Coast once again defeated Ghana in the final of an 2015 African Cup of Nations with a 22-shot shoot-out, winning 9–8.

2000s and World Cup debut

In October 2005, Ivory Coast secured qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, which was to be their first-ever appearance at the tournament. Having been drawn into a "Group of Death" that also featured Cameroon and Egypt, Ivory Coast went into the final match second behind Cameroon, but qualified after beating Sudan 3-1 while Cameroon could only draw with Egypt.

In the tournament itself, Ivory Coast were drawn into another Group of Death, against Argentina, Holland, and Serbia and Montenegro. They lost 2-1 to Argentina - with Didier Drogba scoring the team's first-ever World Cup goal in the 82nd minute - and then 2-1 to the Netherlands, meaning they had already been eliminated by the time they played Serbia and Montenegro. Despite going 2-0 down after just 20 minutes, Ivory Coast came back to win 3-2, with Bonaventure Kalou scoring an 86th-minute penalty to give Ivory Coast their first-ever World Cup victory.

After Uli Stielike left before the 2008 African Cup of Nations, due to his son's health, co-trainer Gerard Gili took his position. To compensate of the lack of another co-coach, Didier Drogba acted as a player-coach. This was only the second time that a player had also acted as a coach at the tournament, after George Weah was both player and coach for Liberia during the 2002 tournament.

2010s

Ivory Coast qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, and were again drawn in a "Group of Death", against five-time champions Brazil, Portugal, and North Korea. Having managed a 0-0 draw against Portugal, a 3-1 defeat to Brazil meant that in order to qualify from their group, they would have to beat North Korea, Brazil needed to beat Portugal, and (thanks to Portugal's 7-0 win over North Korea) there needed to be a substantial swing in goal difference. Ivory Coast won 3-0, but Portugal held Brazil to a 0-0 draw and Ivory Coast were once again eliminated in the group stages.

2014

The team made a third appearance in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, where they were drawn in Group C against Colombia, Greece, and Japan. After coming from behind to beat Japan 2-1, Ivory Coast then lost 2-1 to Colombia, leaving their qualification in the balance. In their final match against Greece, the score was 1-1 going into stoppage time, and with Japan losing 4-1 to Colombia, Ivory Coast looked set to qualify. However, in the 93rd minute, Giovanni Sio gave away a penalty which Georgios Samaras converted, giving Greece both the victory and the place in the last 16; Ivory Coast, meanwhile, went out in the group stage for the third tournament in a row.

The team's streak of World Cup qualifications came to an end at the 2018 tournament. Needing a win in their final match against Morocco, they instead lost 2-0, meaning Morocco qualified instead.

Home stadium

The team play their home games at the Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, a 50,000-seater stadium in Abidjan.

Supporters

Supporters of the Elephants are known to be among the most colorful in Africa. At matches featuring the Ivory Coast, the Elephants supporter sections typically include a percussion band that mimics the sounds of an elephant traveling through a forest.

Results and fixtures

The following is a list of match results in the last twelve months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

2020

2021

Coaches

Dates Name 1960 Paul Gévaudan 1965 Alphonse Bissouma Tapé 1966 Vacant 1967–68 Paul Gévaudan 1968–70 Peter Schnittger 1970–72 Jean Tokpa 1972–74 Santa Rosa 1974–76 empty 1976–80 Gérard Gabo 1980–82 empty 1982–85 Otto Pfister 1984 AFCON Davi Ferreira

Dates Name 1986 Pancho Gonzales 1987–88 Yeo Martial 1989 Kaé Oulaï 1989–92 Radivoje Ognjanović 1992 Yeo Martial 1993 Philippe Troussier 1993–94 Henryk Kasperczak 1994–96 Pierre Pleimelding 1996–98 Robert Nouzaret 1999–00 Patrick Parizon 2000–01 Gbonke Tia 2001 Lama Bamba

Dates Name 2002–04 Robert Nouzaret 2004–07 Henri Michel 2007–08 Uli Stielike 2008 Gérard Gili 2008–10 Vahid Halilhodžić 2010 Georges Kouadio 2010 Sven-Göran Eriksson 2010–12 François Zahoui 2012–14 Sabri Lamouchi 2014–15 Hervé Renard 2015–17 Michel Dussuyer 2017 Marc Wilmots

Dates Name 2018–20 Ibrahim Kamara 2020–present Patrice Beaumelle

Players

Current squad

The following players were selected for the friendly matches against Burkina Faso and Ghana on 5 and 12 June 2021.^[7]
Caps and goals updated as of 12 June 2021, after the match against Ghana.^[8]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Sylvain Gbohouo	(1988-10-29) 29 October 1988 (age 32)	59	0	Unattached
	1GK	Badra Ali Sangaré	(1986-05-30) 30 May 1986 (age 35)	16	0	JDR Stars
	1GK	N'Drin Ulrich Edan	(1992-10-19) 19 October 1992 (age 28)	0	0	AFAD
	2DF	Serge Aurier	(1992-12-24) 24 December 1992 (age 28)	69	3	Tottenham Hotspur
	2DF	Wilfried Kanon	(1993-07-06) 6 July 1993 (age 28)	52	3	Al-Gharafa
	2DF	Eric Bailly	(1994-04-12) 12 April 1994 (age 27)	38	2	Manchester United
	2DF	Willy Boly	(1991-02-03) 3 February 1991 (age 30)	6	1	Wolverhampton Wanderers
	2DF	Odilon Kossounou	(2001-01-04) 4 January 2001 (age 20)	6	0	Bayer Leverkusen
	2DF	Sinaly Diomandé	(2001-04-09) 9 April 2001 (age 20)	5	0	Lyon
	2DF	Wilfried Singo	(2000-12-25) 25 December 2000 (age 20)	2	0	Torino
	2DF	Emmanuel Agbadou	(1997-06-07) 7 June 1997 (age 24)	0	0	Eupen
	3MF	Max Gradel	(1987-11-30) 30 November 1987 (age 33)	86	13	Sivasspor
	3MF	Serey Dié	(1984-11-07) 7 November 1984 (age 36)	53	2	Sion
	3MF	Franck Kessié	(1996-12-19) 19 December 1996 (age 24)	48	4	Milan
	3MF	Ibrahim Sangaré	(1997-12-02) 2 December 1997 (age 23)	12	2	PSV
	3MF	Jérémie Boga	(1997-01-03) 3 January 1997 (age 24)	3	0	Sassuolo
	3MF	Hassane Kamara	(1994-03-05) 5 March 1994 (age 27)	2	0	Nice
	3MF	Ismaila Soro	(1998-05-07) 7 May 1998 (age 23)	1	0	Celtic
	3MF	Serge Arnaud Aka	(1994-11-16) 16 November 1994 (age 26)	0	0	El Gouna
	3MF	Hamed Traorè	(2000-02-16) 16 February 2000 (age 21)	0	0	Sassuolo
	4FW	Maxwel Cornet	(1996-09-27) 27 September 1996 (age 24)	21	4	Lyon
	4FW	Lago Junior	(1990-12-31) 31 December 1990 (age 30)	5	0	Mallorca
	4FW	Sébastien Haller	(1994-06-22) 22 June 1994 (age 27)	4	1	Ajax
	4FW	Amad Diallo	(2002-07-11) 11 July 2002 (age 19)	3	1	Manchester United
	4FW	Christian Kouamé	(1997-12-06) 6 December 1997 (age 23)	3	0	Fiorentina
	4FW	Chris Bedia	(1996-03-05) 5 March 1996 (age 25)	0	0	Troyes

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the squad within the last 12 months and are still eligible to represent.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Eliezer Ira Tape	(1997-08-31) 31 August 1997 (age 23)	0	0	San Pédro	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
GK	Abdoul Karim Cissé	(1985-10-20) 20 October 1985 (age 35)	3	0	ASEC Mimosas	v.  Madagascar, 17 November 2020
GK	Sayouba Mandé	(1993-06-15) 15 June 1993 (age 28)	5	0	OB	v.  Japan, 13 October 2020
GK	Nicolas Tié	(2001-02-13) 13 February 2001 (age 20)	0	0	Vitória de Guimarães	v.  Belgium, 8 October 2020
DF	Simon Deli	(1991-10-27) 27 October 1991 (age 29)	19	0	Slavia Prague	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
DF	Wonlo Coulibaly	(1991-12-22) 22 December 1991 (age 29)	14	0	Mazembe	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
DF	Kalpi Ouattara	(1998-12-29) 29 December 1998 (age 22)	2	0	Östersund	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
DF	Fousseny Coulibaly	(1989-08-10) 10 August 1989 (age 32)	1	0	Espérance	v.  Niger, 26 March 2021 PRE
DF	Zié Ouattara	(2000-01-09) 9 January 2000 (age 21)	0	0	Vitória de Guimarães	v.  Niger, 26 March 2021 PRE
DF	Ismaël Traoré	(1986-08-18) 18 August 1986 (age 34)	19	0	Angers	v.  Japan, 13 October 2020
DF	Ghislain Konan	(1995-12-27) 27 December 1995 (age 25)	11	0	Reims	v.  Belgium, 8 October 2020
MF	Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro	(1992-10-11) 11 October 1992 (age 28)	16	0	Lazio	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
MF	Christian Koffi	(1990-12-21) 21 December 1990 (age 30)	6	0	Mazembe	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
MF	Seko Fofana	(1995-05-07) 7 May 1995 (age 26)	6	1	Lens	v.  Niger, 26 March 2021 PRE
MF	Serge N'Guessan	(1994-12-17) 17 December 1994 (age 26)	14	2	Nancy	v.  Madagascar, 17 November 2020
MF	Habib Maïga	(1996-06-01) 1 June 1996 (age 25)	6	0	Metz	v.  Madagascar, 17 November 2020
MF	Jean Michaël Seri	(1991-07-19) 19 July 1991 (age 30)	30	3	Bordeaux	v.  Japan, 13 October 2020
MF	Yakou Méïté	(1996-02-11) 11 February 1996 (age 25)	3	0	Reading	v.  Japan, 13 October 2020
MF	Ibrahim Traoré	(1988-09-16) 16 September 1988 (age 32)	1	0	Slavia Prague	v.  Japan, 13 October 2020
MF	Mohamed Doumbia	(1998-12-25) 25 December 1998 (age 22)	0	0	Dukla Prague	v.  Japan, 13 October 2020
FW	Jonathan Kodjia	(1989-10-22) 22 October 1989 (age 31)	27	11	Al-Gharafa	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
FW	Nicolas Pépé	(1995-05-20) 20 May 1995 (age 26)	25	5	Arsenal	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
FW	Wilfried Zaha	(1992-11-10) 10 November 1992 (age 28)	20	5	Crystal Palace	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
FW	Yohan Boli	(1993-09-17) 17 September 1993 (age 27)	9	0	Al-Rayyan	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
FW	Jean Evrard Kouassi	(1994-09-25) 25 September 1994 (age 26)	1	1	Wuhan	v.  Ethiopia, 30 March 2021
FW	Gervinho	(1987-05-27) 27 May 1987 (age 34)	86	23	Trabzonspor	v.  Niger, 26 March 2021 INJ
FW	Souleymane Coulibaly	(1994-12-26) 26 December 1994 (age 26)	0	0	Étoile du Sahel	v.  Niger, 26 March 2021 PRE
FW	Datro Fofana	(2002-12-22) 22 December 2002 (age 18)	1	0	Molde	v.  Madagascar, 17 November 2020
FW	Jumaa Saeed	(1992-09-13) 13 September 1992 (age 28)	1	0	Al-Kuwait	v.  Madagascar, 17 November 2020
FW	Anderson Niangbo	(1999-10-06) 6 October 1999 (age 21)	0	0	Gent	v.  Japan, 13 October 2020
DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up. INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE Preliminary Squad. SUS Suspended from the national team.

Records

As of 17 November 2020^[9]

Players in bold are still active with Ivory Coast.

Most capped players

Rank	Player	Caps	Goals	Career
1.	Didier Zokora	123	1	2000–2014
2.	Kolo Touré	120	7	2000–2015
3.	Didier Drogba	105	65	2002–2014
4.	Yaya Touré	101	19	2004–2015
5.	Siaka Tiéné	100	2	2000–2015
6.	Salomon Kalou	96	27	2007–present
7.	Abdoulaye Traoré	90	49	1984–1996
8.	Arthur Boka	88	1	2004–2015
9.	Boubacar Barry	86	0	2000–2015
10.	Gervinho	84	23	2007–present

Top goalscorers

Rank	Player	Goals	Caps	Ratio	Career
1.	Didier Drogba (list)	65	105	0.62	2002–2014
2.	Abdoulaye Traoré	49	90	0.54	1984–1996
3.	Djohan Tiéhi	28	50	0.56	1985–1999
4.	Salomon Kalou	27	96	0.28	2007–present
5.	Gervinho	23	84	0.27	2007–present
6.	Ibrahima Bakayoko	22	39	0.56	1996–2002
7.	Laurent Pokou	21	30	0.7	1967–1980
8.	Yaya Touré	19	101	0.19	2004–2015
9.	Aruna Dindane	18	62	0.29	2000–2010
10.	Wilfried Bony	17	58	0.29	2010–present

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record											FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Result	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Squad		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did not enter										Did not enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970
1974	Did not qualify										6	3	2	1	8	7
1978											6	3	2	1	11	10
1982											2	0	0	2	1	3
1986											4	1	1	2	6	5
1990											4	1	2	1	5	1
1994											8	4	3	1	12	6
1998											2	0	1	1	1	2
2002											10	5	4	1	22	10
2006	Group stage	19th	3	1	0	2	5	6	Squad		10	7	1	2	20	7
2010		17th	3	1	1	1	4	3	Squad		12	8	4	0	29	6
2014		21st	3	1	0	2	4	5	Squad		8	5	3	0	19	7
2018	Did not qualify										8	4	2	2	11	5
2022	To be determined										To be determined
2026
Total	Group stage	3/21	9	3	1	5	13	14	−		80	41	25	14	145	69

FIFA Confederations Cup

FIFA Confederations Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA	Squad
1992	Fourth place	4th	2	0	0	2	2	9	Squad
1995 to 2017	Did not qualify
Total	Fourth place	1/10	2	0	0	2	2	9	–

Africa Cup of Nations

Africa Cup of Nations record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1957	Part of  France
1959
1962	Not affiliated to CAF
1963
1965	Third place	3rd	3	2	0	1	5	4
1968	Third place	3rd	5	3	1	1	9	6
1970	Fourth place	4th	5	2	1	2	11	9
1972	Did not qualify
1974	Group stage	7th	3	0	1	2	2	5
1976	Did not qualify
1978	Banned
1980	Group stage	6th	3	0	2	1	2	3
1982	Did not enter
1984	Group stage	5th	3	1	0	2	4	4
1986	Third place	3rd	5	3	0	2	7	5
1988	Group stage	6th	3	0	3	0	2	2
1990		6th	3	1	0	2	3	5
1992	Champions	1st	5	2	3	0	4	0
1994	Third place	3rd	5	3	1	1	11	5
1996	Group stage	11th	3	1	0	2	2	5
1998	Quarter-finals	7th	4	2	2	0	10	6
2000	Group stage	9th	3	1	1	1	3	4
2002		16th	3	0	1	2	1	4
2004	Did not qualify
2006	Runners-up	2nd	6	3	2	1	6	5
2008	Fourth place	4th	6	4	0	2	16	9
2010	Quarter-finals	8th	3	1	2	0	5	4
2012	Runners-up	2nd	6	5	1	0	9	0
2013	Quarter-finals	5th	4	2	1	1	8	5
2015	Champions	1st	6	3	3	0	9	4
2017	Group stage	11th	3	0	2	1	2	3
2019	Quarter-finals	5th	5	3	1	1	7	3
2021	Qualified
2023	Qualified as hosts
2025	To be determined
Total	2 Titles	24/33	91	42	26	23	135	94

*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out.

**Gold background colour indicates that the tournament was won.

***Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

African Nations Championship

African Nations Championship
Appearances: 4
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
2009	Group stage	8th	3	0	1	2	0	4
2011	Group stage	12th	3	1	0	2	2	4
2014	Did not qualify
2016	Third place	3rd	6	4	0	2	10	4
2018	Group stage	14th	3	0	1	2	0	3
2020	Did not qualify
2022	To be determined
Total	Third place	4/6	15	5	2	8	12	15

African Games

Football at the African Games has been an under-23 tournament since 1991.

African Games record
Year	Result	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1965	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1973	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1978	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1987	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1991–present	See Ivory Coast national under-23 football team
Total	4/4	0	0	0	0	0	0

CECAFA Cup

Honours

• Africa Cup of Nations:

Winners (2): 1992, 2015

Runners-up (2): 2006, 2012

• FIFA Confederations Cup:

Fourth-place (1): 1992

See also

• Ivory Coast national under-20 football team

References

External links

• Ivory Coast Association — official website
• Ivory Coast at FIFA.com
• Ivory Coast at the World Cups
• Ivory Coast Teams at World Cups
• Ivory Coast: Head-to-Head Records at World Cups
• Ivory Coast Players' Clubs