AFCON 2021: Cote d’Ivoire – Elephants looking far

Two-time champions Cote d’Ivoire are coming back to the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations hoping to do better than their quarterfinals appearance in the last edition.

Nickname: The Elephants

Participation No. 24

Records: Champions (1992, 2015)

Qualifiers:

Cote d’Ivoire 1-0 Niger

Ethiopia 2-1 Cote d’Ivoire

Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 Madagascar

Madagascar 1-1 Cote d’Ivoire

Niger 0-3 Cote d’Ivoire

Cote d’Ivoire 3-1 Ethiopia

Coach: Patrice Beaumelle

Country: France

Date of Birth: 24.04.1978

“We are in a tough group with teams I do respect all. All the games will be tough and exciting. We cannot wait to be there”.

Squad

Goalkeepers: Sylvain Gbohouo (Wolkite Ketema, Ethiopia), Badra Ali Sangare (JDR Stars, South Africa), Abdoul Karim Cisse (Asec Mimosas, Ivory Coast), Ira Eliezer Tape (San Pedro, Ivory Coast).

Defenders: Serge Aurier (Villarreal, Spain), Eric Bailly (Manchester United, England), Willy Boly (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England), Wilfried Kanon (Pyramids, Egypt), Odilon Kossounou (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Simon Deli (Adana Demirspor, Turkey), Ghislain Konan (Reims, France).

Midfielders: Habib Maiga (Metz, France), Maxwel Cornet (Burnley, England), Serey Die (Sion, Switzerland), Ibrahim Sangare (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), Jean-Daniel Akpa Akpro (Lazio, Italy), Franck Kessie (AC Milan, Italy), Hamed Traore and Jeremie Boga (both Sassuolo, Italy), Max Gradel (Sivasspor, Turkey), Jean Michael Seri (Fulham, England).

Forwards: Wilfried Zaha (Crystal Palace, England), Jean Evrard Kouassi (Trabzonspor, Turkey), Nicolas Pepe (Arsenal, England), Sebastien Haller (Ajax, Netherlands), Christian Kouame (Anderlecht, Belgium), Yohan Boli (Al-Rayyan, Qatar), Karim Konate (Asec Mimosas, Ivory Coast)

Players to watch:

Sebastein Haller (30) Forward, Ajax (Netherlands)

Franck Kessie (25) Midfielder, AC Milan (Italy)

Max-Alain Gradel (34) Forward, Sivasspor (Turkey)