Ivory Coast
Germany 2006 will be the Ivory Coast's first World Cup appearance. They finished top of their qualifying group, which was probably the toughest route to qualification for an African team.
Ivory Coast World Cup profile continues below
The Ivory Coast work very well together as a team, but Didier Drogba scoring goals up front, and Kolo Toure holding everything together at the back definitely helped, and those two were the stars of the team.
The manager, Henri Michel, has turned a group of players that were relatively inexperienced, into a well balanced side.
However, he has got to be one of the most unlucky managers to have taken a team into the World Cup for the first time: the Ivory Coast have been placed in 'the group of death', alongside two of the favourites for the competition, Argentina and Holland.
The Ivory Coast are ranked 41st in the world and are widely considered the best African team, but getting through the group stages proved too tough in spite of good football on their part.
They had a tough first game - against Argentina. Ivory Coast's captain Didier Drogba scored but they lost 2-1, and then they lost 2-1 again to Holland in spite of a stunning strike from Kone.
The Ivory Coast can hold their heads high but were unlucky to face such tough opposition in the group stage. In their third game they did well to come from 2-0 behind to defeat Serbia & Montenegro 3-2.
Ivory Coast Squad:
Player Club Position Caps Goals
B Barry Beveren G 6 0
G Gnanhouan Sochaux G 6 0
J Tizie Esperance G 22 0
A Boka Strasbourg D 21 1
C Domoraud Creteil D 49 0
E Eboue Arsenal D 9 0
B Kouassi Troyes D 35 0
A Meite Marseille D 16 0
K Toure Arsenal D 40 1
M Zoro Messina D 13 0
K Akale Auxerre M 21 2
G Demel SV Hamburg M 7 0
E Fae Nantes M 12 1
K Keita Lille M 24 6
Romaric Le Mans M 6 0
Y Toure Olympiakos M 12 2
G Yapi Yapo Young Boys M 25 2
D Zokora St Etienne M 36 0
Aruna Dindane Lens F 32 10
D Drogba Chelsea F 30 21
B Kalou Paris St-G. F 47 11
B Kone Nice F 14 3
A Kone PSV Eindhoven F 16 2
Ivory Coast World Cup profile by Ben Rosenbaum
