Ivory_Coast_men's_national_basketball_team
The Ivory Coast men's national basketball team (French: équipe de Côte d'Ivoire masculine de basket-ball) is the men's basketball side that represents Ivory Coast in international competition. The team competes regularly in the African Championship and is administered by the Fédération Ivoirienne de Basket-Ball.[2]
| FIBA ranking | 31  2 (1 March 2024)[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Joined FIBA | 1961 | ||
| FIBA zone | FIBA Africa | ||
| National federation | Fédération Ivoirienne de Basket-Ball | ||
| Coach | Natxo Lezkano | ||
| Nickname(s) | Les Éléphants (The Elephants) | ||
| FIBA World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 5 | ||
| AfroBasket | |||
| Appearances | 24 | ||
| Medals |  Gold (1981, 1985) Silver (1978, 1980, 2009, 2021) | ||
| AfroCan | |||
| Appearances | 2 | ||
| Medals |  Silver (2023) | ||
|
| |||
With two AfroBasket titles and six overall finals appearances, the country is traditionally home to one of the continent's finest basketball national teams. The Elephants have played at the FIBA Basketball World Cup four times and also played in the 2023 edition.
Ivory Coast reached the final of the FIBA Africa Championship for the first time in 1978, but they were defeated by Senegal in the final. They reached the final again in the following tournament, in 1980, but again had to settle for silver, as Senegal took the gold. Another run the following year, in 1981, saw Côte d'Ivoire finally break through and win their first title, as they defeated Egypt for the championship. Four years later, Côte d'Ivoire won their second championship, as they hosted the tournament in 1985, and beat Angola, to win the championship. Côte d'Ivoire finished second at the 2009 FIBA Africa Championship, for their first podium finish since their victory in 1985. They participated in the 2010 FIBA World Championship, which was their first FIBA World Cup appearance since 1986. The team went 1–4 at the tournament, finishing last in Group C. On 2 September 2010, In their final group game, the Ivorians defeated Puerto Rico 88–76, for their first ever FIBA World Cup win, but they came up just short in the tiebreaker to see which team would advance to the knockout stage.[3]
Ivory Coast qualified for the 2019 FIBA World Championship in dramatic and extraordinary circumstances. After only narrowly avoiding elimination in the first qualifying round (they finished 3rd in their group and only qualified because they held the tiebreaker to Mozambique), they needed to win their last three games in the final group by a combined margin of 66 points in order to qualify as the best-ranked third-placed team. They remarkably did so (actually, they won by a combined 73 points), dispatching even African powerhouses and already-qualified Nigeria by a score of 72–46 in the process. Combined with a loss for the Central African Republic against Nigeria, Ivory Coast finished third in the group and qualified for the World Championship by virtue of a better total points difference than Cameroon.
FIBA World Cup
| FIBA World Cup record | Qualification record | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | L | GP | W | L | |
 1963 | did not qualify | AfroBasket served as qualification | |||||||
 1967 | |||||||||
 1970 | |||||||||
 1974 | |||||||||
 1978 | |||||||||
 1982 |
Classification round | 13th | 5 | 0 | 5 | ||||
 1986 |
Preliminary round | 23rd | 5 | 0 | 5 | ||||
 1990 |
did not qualify | ||||||||
 1994 | |||||||||
 1998 | |||||||||
 2002 | |||||||||
 2006 | |||||||||
 2010 |
Preliminary round | 21st | 5 | 1 | 4 | ||||
| 2014 |
did not qualify | ||||||||
 2019 |
Classification round | 29th | 5 | 0 | 5 | 12 | 7 | 5 | |
  2023 |
Classification round | 27th | 5 | 1 | 4 | 12 | 10 | 2 | |
 2027 |
To be determined | To be determined | |||||||
| 5/17 | 25 | 2 | 23 | 24 | 17 | 7 | |||
FIBA Africa Championship
Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place
| Year | Round | Position | GP | W | L |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 1962 | did not enter | ||||
 1964 | |||||
 1965 | |||||
| 1968 | Seventh place | 7th | 7 | 4 | 3 |
 1970 | did not qualify | ||||
 1972 | Tenth place | 10th | 6 | 1 | 5 |
 1974 | did not qualify | ||||
| 1975 | |||||
| 1978 | Runners-up | 2nd | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| 1980 | Runners-up | 2nd | 7 | 5 | 2 |
 1981 | Champions | 1st | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| 1983 | Fourth place | 4th | 6 | 3 | 3 |
 1985 | Champions | 1st | 7 | 6 | 1 |
| 1987 | Classification stage | 7th | 5 | 2 | 3 |
 1989 | Classification stage | 5th | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| 1992 | Preliminary round | 11th | 5 | 1 | 4 |
 1993 | Classification stage | 6th | 5 | 2 | 3 |
 1995 | Classification stage | 7th | 5 | 3 | 2 |
| 1997 | Classification stage | 8th | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 1999 | Eight place | 8th | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 2001 | Classification stage | 8th | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 2003 | Eleventh place | 11th | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 2005 | Classification stage | 10th | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| 2007 | Quarterfinals | 8th | 6 | 2 | 4 |
 2009 | Runners-up | 2nd | 9 | 5 | 4 |
 2011 | Fourth place | 4th | 8 | 3 | 5 |
| 2013 | Fourth place | 4th | 7 | 5 | 2 |
| 2015 | Round of 16 | 12th | 5 | 2 | 3 |
| 2017 | Preliminary round | 14th | 3 | 0 | 3 |
 2021 | Runners-up | 2nd | 6 | 5 | 1 |
| 2025 | to be determined | ||||
| Total | 147 | 73 | 74 | ||
FIBA AfroCan
Runners-up
African Games
- 1978 –
- 1987 –
- 2003 – 4th
- 2007 – 6th
- 2011 – 8th
- 2015 – 7th
Current roster
Roster for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup.[4][5]
| Ivory Coast men's national basketball team – 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notable players
Other current notable players from Ivory Coast:
| Ivory Coast roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Past rosters
Team for the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship.
| Ivory Coast national basketball team roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Head coaches
Vladislav Lučić: (1981–1983)
Jacques Monclar: (2007)
Randoald Dessarzin: (2009, 2010)- Christophe Denis: (2012)
Natxo Lezkano: (2011, 2013,[6] 2015, 2024)
Dejan Prokic (a.i.): (August 2022)[7]
Manufacturer
- "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 1 March 2024. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
- FIBA National Federations – Cote d'Ivoire, fiba.com. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
- "PUR/CIV– Ivory Coast claim first win but just miss out on place in second round". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- "Mondial basket-ball 2023 : la liste des 12 éléphants sélectionnés dévoilée avec Zouzoua et Souleymane Diabaté". linfodrome.com. 20 August 2023. Retrieved 20 August 2023.
- "Team roster: Ivory Coast" (PDF). FIBA. 25 August 2023.
- Head coaches, fiba.com. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
- "Basketball-Ivory Coast: the birth of a golden generation?". African News Paper. 30 August 2022. Retrieved 30 August 2022.
- 2015 FIBA Africa Championship – Cote d'Ivoire, FIBA.com. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
- Official website
- FIBA profile
- Cote d'Ivoire Basketball Records at FIBA Archive
Videos
- ANG – CIV | Basketball Highlights – #FIBAWC 2023 Qualifiers Youtube.com video