History
Ivory Coast made their World Cup debut in 2006. They were the only nation at Germany 2006 whose squad was made up of players entirely based at clubs outside of their home country and they are the only team who have never failed to score in a FIFA World Cup match. They were unable to qualify from a strong group which included Argentina, Netherlands and Serbia.

Qualification
Ivory Coast breezed through qualification, topping their groups in both stages of CAF qualifying. Les Elephants eased through round two, with three wins at home and three draws on the road enough to see off Mozambique, Madagascar and Botswana. A 4-0 win against the latter was a highlight, as even Didier Zokora got his name on the score-sheet - his first goal for his country and only the fourth in his entire professional career. The second and final group stage saw Ivory Coast really turn on the style, with star striker Didier Drogba bagging six of his side’s 19 goals in just half a dozen games. A 5-0 hammering of Burkina Faso was a highlight, and qualification was confirmed with a 1-1 draw away in Malawi. However, the campaign was overshadowed by a fatal crowd crush in March 2009, as tens of thousands of extra fans crammed into the stadium to watch the nation’s stars hammer Malawi 5-0 in their opening game of the group.

Prospects
The core of the Ivory Coast’s impressive 2006 squad remains intact four years on, and with experienced players across the park there is a nice balance to the side. Progress to the latter stages is likely to depend on the form and fitness of Didier Drogba, but Aruna Dindane and the Kone brothers - Arouna and Bakari - offer decent support in attack. Salomon Kalou and the lively Abdul-Kader Keita offer options up-front and out wide, and manager Sven Goran Eriksson has the flexibility to play attacking wingers and two front men if needed thanks to a solid midfield partnership of Didier Zokora and the impressive Yaya Toure. A group of defenders including Kolo Toure and Abdoulaye Meite should provide a reasonably solid base to allow the rest of the side to attack, even against the better teams in South Africa. Many pundits had picked this group of players as possible dark horses for the title prior to the draw, but a place in Group G alongside Brazil and Portugal could see them struggle to even make the knock-out stages. That said, as long as at least some of their star men perform, Les Elephants are more than capable of beating their European opponents and could even spring a surprise against Brazil, while anything other than a win over North Korea would be a huge upset.