Ivory Coast national football team

The Ivory Coast national football team (French: Équipe de football de Côte d'Ivoire, recognized as the Côte d'Ivoire by FIFA^[3]) represents Ivory Coast in men's international football. Nicknamed the Elephants, the team is managed by the Ivorian Football Federation (FIF). The team has won the Africa Cup of Nations three times, in 1992, 2015 and 2023, and has qualified for the FIFA World Cup four times, in 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2026.

Ivory Coast's home colours are all orange. Since 2020 their home games have been played at Alassane Ouattara Stadium, in Abidjan. Prior to this their home ground was Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, also in Abidjan. Didier Zokora holds the record for number of caps, with 123. The nation's leading goalscorer is Didier Drogba, who scored 65 goals for the Elephants in 105 appearances.

The team played its first international match against Dahomey, now known as Benin, which they won 3–2 on 13 April 1960 in Madagascar.^[4]

The team achieved an 11–0 victory against the Central African Republic national football team.^[5] In 1961 the team made their first appearance in the Africa Cup of Nations.^[6] After gaining independence from France, the team finished third in the 1963 and 1965 tournaments.

Ivory Coast'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).^[7] They failed to qualify for the 1972 edition, losing 4–3 to Congo-Brazzaville in the final qualifying round,^[8] and then qualified in 1974 but finished bottom of their group with only a single point.^[9] Missing the 1976 tournament,^[10] 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, resulting in Upper Volta, who Ivory Coast had beaten in the first qualifying round, inheriting their place.^[11]

In 1984, the team hosted the African Cup of Nations for the first time, but failed to get out of their group.^[12] 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.^[13]

At the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations, Ivory Coast beat Algeria 3–0^[14] and drew 0–0 with Congo to finish top of their group.^[15] An extra-time victory over Zambia^[16] and a penalty shoot-out win over Cameroon^[17] 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.^[18] They were unable to defend their title in 1994, losing to Nigeria in the semi-finals.^[19]

In October 2005, Ivory Coast secured qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, 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.^[20]

Ivory Coast finished runners-up at the 2006 African Cup of Nations, with the tournament including another lengthy penalty shootout, where Ivory Coast defeated Cameroon 12–11.^[21]

In the tournament itself, Ivory Coast were drawn into another group of death, against Argentina, Netherlands, and Serbia and Montenegro.^[22] They lost 2–1 to Argentina^[23] – with Didier Drogba scoring the team's first-ever World Cup goal in the 82nd minute – and then 2–1 to the Netherlands,^[24] meaning they had already been eliminated by the time they played Serbia and Montenegro. After 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.^[25]

After Uli Stielike left before the 2008 African Cup of Nations due to his son's health, co-trainer Gerard Gili took his position.^[26] 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.

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.^[27] Having managed a 0–0 draw against Portugal,^[28] a 3–1 defeat to Brazil meant that in order to qualify from their group,^[29] they would have to beat North Korea,^[30] while Brazil needed to beat Portugal, and thanks to Portugal's 7–0 win over North Korea,^[31] there needed to be a substantial swing in goal difference. Ivory Coast won 3–0,^[30] but Portugal held Brazil to a 0–0 draw^[32] and Ivory Coast were once again eliminated in the group stage.^[33]

The team made a third appearance in the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, where they were drawn into Group C against Colombia, Greece, and Japan.^[34] After coming from behind to beat Japan 2–1,^[35] Ivory Coast then lost 2–1 to Colombia,^[36] 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;^[37] Ivory Coast, meanwhile, went out in the group stage for the third tournament in a row.^[38]

In 2015, the national team won the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time in Equatorial Guinea, defeating Ghana in a 22-shot penalty shootout, winning 9–8 after a scoreless game.^[39]

Ivory Coast failed to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup. After needing a win in their final match against Morocco, they lost 2–0, meaning Morocco qualified instead.^[40]

In early 2024, Ivory Coast hosted the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time.^[41] Following a 4–0 defeat to Equatorial Guinea and third-placed finish in the group stage, coach Jean-Louis Gasset was dismissed, and assistant coach Emerse Faé was hired as caretaker in the knockout stages, as the national team qualified as one of the best third-placed teams.^[42] Later on, Ivory Coast managed to defeat the defending champions Senegal in the penalty shoot-outs, Mali after extra-time, and DR Congo in the semi-finals.^[43] They eventually won the title, defeating Nigeria 2–1 in the final, marking their third victory.^[44] For the first time in the history of the African Cup of Nations, the tournament was won by a team that changed coaches during the tournament.^[45]

From 1964 to 2020, Felix Houphouet Boigny Stadium, a 50,000-seater stadium in Abidjan was the main venue used to host home matches. In 2020, the 60,000-seat Alassane Ouattara Stadium, also in Abidjan, was opened ahead of the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.^[46]

Supporters of the Elephants are known to be among the most colorful in Africa. At Ivory Coast matches, the Elephants supporter sections typically include a percussion band that mimics the sounds of an elephant traveling through a forest.^[47]

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

The following players were selected for the friendly matches against South Korea and Scotland on 28 and 31 March 2026, respectively.^[49]
Caps and goals updated as of 10 January 2026, after the match against Egypt.

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

As of 10 January 2026^[50][51]

Players in bold are still active with Ivory Coast.

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

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

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

• Afro-Asian Cup of Nations
  • Runners-up (1): 1993

• CAF Africa Cup of Nations
  • Champions (3): 1992, 2015, 2023
  • Runners-up (2): 2006, 2012
  • Third place (4): 1965, 1968, 1986, 1994
• CAF African Nations Championship
  • Third place (1): 2016
• African Games¹
  • Bronze medal (1): 1965

• CEDEAO Cup
  • Champions (3): 1983, 1987, 1991
  • Runners-up (1): 1985
  • Third place (1): 1990
• West African Nations Cup
  •   Third place (2): 1983, 1984
• UEMOA Tournament
  • Champions (2): 2007, 2008

• African National Team of the Year (3): 1992, 2015, 2024
• Africa Cup of Nations Fair Play Award (1): 2012

Notes

1. Competition organized by ANOCA, officially not recognized by FIFA.

• Ivory Coast national under-20 football team
• Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations

• Official website
• Ivory Coast at CAF
• Ivory Coast at FIFA
• 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