Côte d’Ivoire World Cup 2026 team guide

This article is part of the Guardian’s 2026 World Cup Experts’ Network , a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 48 countries who qualified. theguardian.com is running previews from three countries each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 11 June. The plan Côte d’Ivoire return to the world stage for the first time since the golden years of the early 2010s. They do not quite have the star power of old but their squad is packed with recognisable faces to fans in Europe’s top leagues. The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations winners, on home soil, usually play 4-3-3 although there are questions over who will play in arguably the most important position: holding midfield. Jean Michaël Seri, the 34-year-old former Fulham and Hull midfielder, had made the position his own but hasn’t been the same since spending a year out of the game with an ankle injury. Nottingham Forest’s Ibrahim Sangaré is expected to step into the breach. The coach, Emerse Faé, prefers a style of play that prioritises defensive solidity and relies on the individual qualities of wingers on the counterattack. Les Éléphants did not concede a single goal in 10 qualifying matches to get here. Their defence, which sometimes evolves into a back three, is led by Roma’s Evan N’Dicka, whose revolving defensive partners include Atalanta’s Odilon Kossounou and Reims’ Emmanuel Agbadou. Franck Kessié, formerly of Barcelona and Milan, still runs the midfield and wears the captain’s armband. …