Ivory Coast men's national basketball team
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FIBA ranking | 31 ![]() | ||
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Joined FIBA | 1961 | ||
FIBA zone | FIBA Africa | ||
National federation | Fédération Ivoirienne de Basket-Ball | ||
Coach | Paolo Povia | ||
Nickname(s) | Les Éléphants (The Elephants) | ||
FIBA World Cup | |||
Appearances | 4 | ||
AfroBasket | |||
Appearances | 23 | ||
Medals | ![]() ![]() | ||
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The Ivorian Coast national basketball team 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]
With two AfroBasket titles and five overall finals appearances, the country is traditionally home to one of the continent's finest basketball national teams.
History
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. In their final group game, the Ivorians defeated Puerto Rico, 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.
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.
Competitive record
FIBA World Cup
Year | Position | Tournament | Host |
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1982 | 13 | 1982 FIBA World Championship | Colombia |
1986 | 23 | 1986 FIBA World Championship | Spain |
2010 | 21 | 2010 FIBA World Championship | Turkey |
2019 | Qualified | 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup | China |
2023 | To Be Determined | 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup | Philippines, Japan and Indonesia |
FIBA Africa Championship
African Games
- 1973 – ?
- 1978 –
- 1987 –
- 2003 – 4th
- 2007 – 6th
- 2011 – 8th
- 2015 – 7th
- 2019 – To be determined
Team
Current roster
Roster for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup:[3]
Ivory Coast national basketball team – 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Depth chart
Pos. | Starting 5 | Bench 1 | Bench 2 |
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C | Mohamed Koné | Frejus Zerbo | |
PF | Deon Thompson | Adjehi Baru | Bali Coulibaly |
SF | Vafessa Fofana | Tiegbe Bamba | |
SG | Charles Abouo | Guy Landry Edi | |
PG | Mouloukou Diabate | Bryan Pamba | Abraham Sie |
Notable players
Other current notable players from Ivory Coast:
Ivory Coast roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Head coach position
Vladislav Lučić – 1981–83
Jacques Monclar – 2007
Randoald Dessarzin – 2009, 2010
Christophe Denis – 2012
Natxo Lezkano – 2011, 2013,[4] 2015
Past rosters
Team for the 2013 FIBA Africa Championship.
Ivory Coast national basketball team roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Kit
Manufacturer
See also
- Ivory Coast national under-19 basketball team
- Ivory Coast national under-17 basketball team
- Ivory Coast women's national basketball team
- Ivory Coast national 3x3 team
References
- ^ "FIBA Ranking Presented by Nike". FIBA. 15 August 2024. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
- ^ FIBA National Federations – Cote d'Ivoire, fiba.com. Retrieved 27 July 2013.
- ^ 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup roster
- ^ Head coaches, fiba.com. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
- ^ 2015 FIBA Africa Championship – Cote d'Ivoire, FIBA.com. Retrieved 23 June 2016.
External links
- Official website
- FIBA Profile
- Cote d'Ivoire Basketball Records at FIBA Archive
Videos
- Ivory Coast – 2010 FIBA World Championship Team Profile Youtube.com video