Ivory Coast National Team: Football Squad, AFCON Titles, Fixtures and African Kick-Off Times

The Ivory Coast national team are Les Éléphants, the men's football side of Côte d'Ivoire, and they won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1992, 2015 and the 2023 edition, played in 2024. Didier Drogba is their record scorer with 65 goals in 105 appearances before retiring from international football in 2014, and the third title came with a 2 to 1 win over Nigeria in Abidjan on 11 February 2024. In Johannesburg you will hear them called the Ivory Coast soccer team, and in Abidjan they are simply Côte d'Ivoire, but every name points to the same side in orange.

For a reader in Lagos, the Elephants are the side that beat the Super Eagles in that final. Ghana contested the 1992 and 2015 AFCON finals against them, with both decided on penalties. Kenya shared a 2026 World Cup qualifying group with them. Live modules above bring together Ivorian selections, scheduled matches and completed scorelines. The Elephants' history gives those entries context, while the clock conversions help supporters across Africa plan their viewing.

Who Are Les Éléphants, the Côte d'Ivoire National Team?

Les Éléphants are the national football team of Côte d'Ivoire, the West African country that many English speakers still call Ivory Coast. The nickname means The Elephants in English, and it belongs to the side as firmly as Super Eagles belongs to Nigeria or Black Stars to Ghana. Côte d'Ivoire is the country's official French name, so you will often see it in official tournament listings.

The Elephants play in orange. Their biggest stage in Abidjan is the Alassane Ouattara Olympic Stadium in Ebimpé. It opened in 2020, holds about 60,000 and hosted the 2023 AFCON final. In my opinion, that final turned a new stadium into a national landmark in a single night. You can set the Elephants beside the Super Eagles, the Black Stars and the rest of the continent on our national teams hub.

Who Is in the Ivory Coast Squad?

The live Ivory Coast squad module tracks selections as the Elephants announce their call ups. Start with each Ivorian's position, then check his club to connect international selections with the football you follow between tournaments. Many Ivorian internationals play in Europe, and Premier League loyalties shape which of them a fan in Lagos or Nairobi follows most closely. The Côte d'Ivoire squad and the Ivory Coast squad are the same list, so whichever name you searched, you have found the right players.

Which Elephants deserve particular attention? Use the Ivorian caps and scoring entries to compare experience and attacking contributions as selections change. The 2023 AFCON showed why the whole group matters, not only the famous names. Sébastien Haller had come back from cancer treatment, and he scored the winner against Nigeria in the final. Before an Ivorian match begins, the starting XI in the squad module identifies which familiar club players have been selected.

Ivory Coast Fixtures: What Time Is Kick-Off Where You Live?

Look at the first entry in the Elephants' fixtures module to find their next scheduled appearance. Each Ivorian fixture combines its date, tournament and ground with clock readings for WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT. Abidjan keeps GMT throughout the year, giving Elephants supporters a consistent reference for home fixtures. When an Abidjan match starts at 20:00 GMT, Accra also reads 20:00 GMT; the corresponding times are 21:00 WAT for Lagos, 22:00 SAST for Johannesburg and 23:00 EAT for Nairobi and Kampala. Supporters in Accra therefore share Abidjan's match clock without making a conversion.

An Elephants trip abroad can require a different viewing routine. North American World Cup venues and European friendly grounds can place Ivorian kick-offs late at night or around dawn for East African viewers. Use the converted clock beside the Ivorian fixture when arranging your viewing. Its competition label also distinguishes an Elephants qualifier from a friendly, even when their fixture entries look similar. Whether your gathering is in Lagos or Kampala, plan around the local reading attached to that Ivory Coast match.

Who Coaches the Elephants, and How Do They Play?

Emerse Faé took over as head coach during the 2023 AFCON, after Jean-Louis Gasset left the role, and the squad module always names whoever holds the job now. In my opinion, that tournament defined the modern Elephants. They lost 4 to 0 to Equatorial Guinea in the group and went through as one of the best third placed teams. Then they won the whole competition on home soil. It could be argued that the 2023 side added something new, a refusal to accept that any match was lost. The selected Ivorian XI offers the clearest starting point for assessing how the coach intends to approach a particular opponent.

What Have the Elephants Won?

Ivory Coast won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1992, 2015 and the 2023 edition, played in 2024, and Ghana were the opponents in two of those finals. The 1992 final in Senegal finished 0 to 0, and the Elephants won the shootout 11 to 10. In Equatorial Guinea in 2015, another goalless final went to penalties, and they won it 9 to 8. Their 2023 AFCON title came at home. The 2023 edition was played in January and February 2024, and they beat Nigeria 2 to 1 in the final at Ebimpé.

Between the first two titles came a run of near misses, and that run explains why 2015 meant so much. The golden generation lost the 2006 final to Egypt on penalties and the 2012 final to Zambia the same way. So, when the Elephants finally won in Equatorial Guinea, many neutrals saw it as a reward that had been a long time coming. Their World Cup record is shorter. They made their debut in Germany in 2006, returned in 2010 and 2014, and did not go beyond the group stage in any of those first three. The timeline below covers their AFCON finals from 1992 to the 2023 edition.

How Do You Read Ivory Coast Results, and What Was the 2026 World Cup Story?

Each Ivorian result pairs a scoreline with its calendar date and tournament label; an FT badge confirms that play has finished. For the Elephants, distinguish friendlies from competitive fixtures before comparing scores, then use the scorer entries to identify the players contributing goals. The 2023 AFCON is the best lesson in reading results with patience. A 4 to 0 group defeat to Equatorial Guinea looked like the end of the tournament, and the same tournament finished with the trophy in Abidjan.

The 2026 World Cup story began in CAF qualifying, where Ivory Coast were drawn with Kenya, Gabon, Burundi, Gambia and Seychelles. That put the Harambee Stars in direct competition with the Elephants, which is why Kenyan readers follow this side so closely. The results module holds every qualifier and tournament match from that campaign, so check there for how the story ended. One measure stays the same. Every Ivorian World Cup is judged against the 2006 debut and the country's first win at that tournament, 3 to 2 against Serbia and Montenegro.

Who Holds the Ivory Coast Records?

Didier Drogba holds the headline Ivory Coast record, with 65 goals in 105 appearances before he retired from international football in 2014. Across Africa, he is remembered as much for Chelsea as for his country. He scored the late equaliser and the winning penalty against Bayern Munich in the 2012 Champions League final. Yaya Touré stands beside him in the golden generation, and many readers grew up watching him in the Manchester City midfield. The updating Ivorian records module lets you compare caps and goals with Drogba's benchmark after each international.

How Do Ivory Coast Match Up Against Nigeria and Ghana?

For Nigerian readers, the rivalry comes down to one night. On 11 February 2024, Ivory Coast beat the Super Eagles 2 to 1 in the AFCON final at Ebimpé, in front of their own fans. Haller scored the winner. Their meetings with Nigeria can be compared in the Ivorian results module.

Ghana's AFCON final meetings with the Elephants in 1992 and 2015 give this rivalry a specific historical connection. Ivory Coast won both of their first two AFCON titles against the Black Stars, after goalless finals each time. The 1992 shootout ended 11 to 10, and the 2015 one ended 9 to 8. That makes this the great penalty rivalry of West African football. So, when the two meet, Accra and Abidjan watch on the same clock, and both expect a close game that could go to the very last kick.

Why Do the Elephants Matter in Kenya, South Africa and Uganda, and Where Can You Watch?

Outside West Africa, the Elephants matter for different reasons in each country. Kenya has the most direct stake, after sharing a 2026 World Cup qualifying group with them, so the Harambee Stars faced the Elephants with points on the line. South Africa has a large and keen audience that follows African sides at the World Cup and the Ivorian stars based in Europe. In Uganda, the Cranes are not a natural rival, so interest comes through the Ivorian players in the Premier League and the big tournaments.

Viewing options for the Elephants vary across the five countries and their television providers. Consult the Ivorian fixture entry for market viewing details and the accompanying WAT, EAT, SAST and GMT readings. Between Elephants appearances, the updating squad and records entries connect with club coverage of Ivorian internationals throughout the season. In my opinion, the best way to get to know this side is still the old way, which is watching a tournament match with a crowd and a drum somewhere nearby.

Is It the Ivory Coast Football Team or the Côte d'Ivoire National Team?

Both names are right, and they mean the same team. Côte d'Ivoire is the country's official French name, and Ivory Coast is the English translation. So, the Côte d'Ivoire national team, the Ivory Coast football team that South Africans search for, and the Ivory Coast national team searched in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana are all the same side. A search for cote d ivoire squad without the accents brings up the same players as Ivory Coast squad, and Les Éléphants or The Elephants covers them all. Use whichever name your group chat uses. If you are painting a banner for Abidjan, though, the French name is the one the home crowd will read.