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Football has long been a popular game in Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire), the small
French-speaking West African country. The Ivory Coast national football team
(also known as the Côte d'Ivoire national football team) is controlled by the
country's football governing body, the Fédération Ivoirienne de Football.
This body also oversees Ivory Coast's Premier Division (comprising 14 teams) and
its Second Division (comprising 25 teams). Until 2006, The Ivory Coast national
football team's biggest international football achievement was when it
won the 1992 African Cup of Nations by beating Ghana by 11-10 in a penalty shootout.
However, the team - nicknamed 'The Elephants' (Les Éléphants) - reached the
pinnacle of its international efforts in October 2005, when it qualified for the
2006 World Cup in Germany.
This marked Ivory Coast's biggest moment in the international footballing
spotlight. Unfortunately for the Ivory Coast national football team, however, it
drew a group containing two of the highest rated teams in that year's World Cup
- Argentina and Holland.
Despite playing far better than most people expected, the Ivory Coast national
football team was knocked out in the first round when it lost by 2-1 to
Argentina and by 2-1 to Holland. The team did, however, did come back from 0-2
down to win by 3-2 against Serbia and Montenegro.
Notable Ivory Coast players include Ibrahima Bakayoko, Didier Drogba, Kolo Touré,
Yaya Touré, Arouna Koné, Laurent Pokou, Yousouf Falikou Fofana, Alain Gouaméné,
Aruna Dindane, Abdul Kader Keïta, Bakari Koné, Boubacar Sanogo and Didier Zokora.
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