Cote d'Ivoire enter the first 48-team World Cup as Africa's sixth best side in the Fifa rankings. In the third instalment of a nine-part series on African squads at the tournament, RFI looks at a nation making its fourth appearance.
For the first nine World Cups between 1930 and 1970, Côte d'Ivoire was either still part of France, not a member of Fifa, or simply chose not to participate in the tournament.
When a national side attempted to qualify for the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, they fell short. The same happened for the 1978 tournament in Argentina.
It was a generation of players including Didier Drogba, Yaya Touré, his brother Kolo, and Didier Zokora who finally took Côte d'Ivoire to the World Cup in 2006, though they owed no small debt to Egypt.
Tense conclusion to qualifying campaign
Going into the final round of African qualifiers on 8 October 2005, Cameroon were a point ahead of the Ivorians, who were playing group makeweights Sudan.
Douala scored for Cameroon midway through the first half at the Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo in Yaoundé, but Mohamed Shawky equalised 12 minutes from time.
With Côte d'Ivoire 3-0 up in Sudan, Cameroon could not find the winner that would have taken them to Germany.
Plea for peace amid celebrations
As the Ivorian players and staff celebrated in their dressing room at the Al Merrikh Stadium in Omdurman, Drogba took a camera crew's microphone and appealed on live television for his country's warring factions to lay down their arms.
"Ivorians from the north and the south. From the centre to the west. You've seen it - today we've proven to you that all of Côte d'Ivoire can live together, can work together toward a common goal - qualification for the World Cup.
"Please, we're getting down on our knees. All of us. The only country in Africa with all these riches cannot just sink into war like this. Please, lay down all your weapons, hold elections, organise the elections, and everything will be fine."
Weeks later, representatives from the government-ruled south and rebel-held north agreed to a ceasefire, and the national team played a match in the rebel-held north as a symbol of reconciliation.
Group of death
Then a 32-team tournament, the top two from each of the eight groups at the 2006 World Cup advanced to the last-16 knockout stages.
Côte d'Ivoire were drawn in Group C alongside Argentina, the Netherlands and Serbia and Montenegro - a pool widely described as a group of death.
Drogba scored Côte d'Ivoire's first World Cup goal, but it came late in the second half at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg and Argentina won 2-1.
The Elephants, as Côte d'Ivoire are known; were eliminated after losing their second game against the Netherlands by the same scoreline.
When they took to the field at the Allianz Arena in Munich on 21 June, it was for pride, and the team beat Serbia and Montenegro 3-2 to register Côte d'Ivoire's first World Cup points.
Road to 2026: Gabon edge past Kenya to pile pressure on Côte d'Ivoire
Further points came at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, in a group containing Brazil, Portugal and North Korea. But the Ivorians were again eliminated at the group stage.
In 2014, Drogba, by then 36 and playing for Galatasaray in Turkey, captained the side in Brazil. They again went out in the group stage, following defeats to Colombia and Greece.
Drogba retires from international football
Drogba retired from international football in August 2014, and the side under head coach Hervé Renard won the Africa Cup of Nations in January 2015. They failed to reach the World Cup in either 2018 or 2022.
Shortly after guiding the Elephants to the Cup of Nations title in 2023, head coach Emerse Faé set his sights on the 2026 World Cup. The former Ivorian international's side won eight and drew two of their ten games in Group F of the African qualifiers to finish a point ahead of Gabon.
"I'm not going on vacation to the United States," said the 42-year-old when naming his squad for the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada.
"I'm really going there to win. I'm a competitor - and a bad loser at that - so I'm not going just for fun.
"I didn't put together a team to go sightseeing or do some tourism. I put together a team to go as far as possible."
Larger format for 2026
Côte d'Ivoire, ranked 34th in the Fifa rankings of 211 national teams, open against Ecuador in Philadelphia on 14 June and play Germany six days later in Toronto.
They conclude their Group E campaign against debutants Curaçao on 25 June in Philadelphia.
With the expanded 48-team format offering a round of 32 for the top two from each of the 12 pools as well as the eight best third-placed sides, Côte d'Ivoire have a greater chance of reaching the knockout stages for the first time.
"We just want to be ready for this big event," said Faé. "And then, once we're in the competition, we won't be playing it safe. We'll play every match to win it and try to go as far as possible."
