The Ivory Coast national football team formed in 1960 and joined the Confederation of African Football in the same year. The team joined FIFA in 1961. Ivory Coast is also known as the Côte d’Ivoire national football team.
The team’s first game was against Dahomey, now Benin, in 1960. Ivory Coast won the match 3-2. The team’s record winning margin of six goals has been achieved on four occasions, against Mali, Botswana, Niger and Madagascar.
Historically, the team has made little impact on international football. The team’s first notable success came when Ivory Coast won the 1992 Africa Cup of Nations. The record was completely altered when the team qualified for the 2006 world cup.
World cup 2006
The début was a steep learning curve as Ivory Coast lost to heavyweights Argentina and the Netherlands. A win over Serbia and Montenegro proved that the team could compete at the highest level.
World cup 2010
The team qualified and struggled again in 2010. A draw with Portugal and a win over North Korea were highlights of progression but a defeat by Brazil meant the team finished a point below second place.
World cup 2014
Brazil were the hosts of the 2014 world cup, and the tournament was won by Germany. The Ivory Coast national football team came as close as they have so far to making it out of their group. An opening fixture win over Japan was followed by a 2-1 defeat to group winners Colombia. This meant that a draw with Greece would be enough to see them qualify. This looked on the cards until a contentious 93rd minute penalty put Greece 2-1 ahead, and sent Ivory Coast home.
World cup 2018
Fixtures to be announced.
Find out more
- Ivory Coast national football team website.
- Ivory Coast on Twitter.
- Confederation of African Football qualifying.