The Ivory Coast national rugby union team, nicknamed ''Les Éléphants'', participates in the annual

Africa Cup The Rugby Africa Cup is a two-year men's rugby union tournament involving the top 16 African nations based on their World Rugby rankings, it is organised by Rugby Africa. The tournament was first held in 2000. It was renamed the Rugby Africa Cup ...

and are considered a third tier rugby team. Formed in 1990, the team's most significant achievement to date was their success in qualifying for the

Rugby World Cup The Rugby World Cup is a men's rugby union tournament contested every four years between the top international teams. The tournament is administered by World Rugby, the sport's international governing body. The winners are awarded the Webb ...

for their first and so far only time in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

. They have not qualified since, though they did reach the semi-finals of the African qualifying competition for the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

, achieving a home draw against eventual qualifiers

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

before being defeated in their away match.

Rugby union in Côte d'Ivoire Rugby union in Ivory Coast is essentially amateur, with some degree of semi-professionalization in its top-flight league and the national rugby union team. The sport is popular among school children, but the rugby union playing population in Ivo ...

is popular among school children, but the rugby union playing population in Côte d'Ivoire is still relatively small with only 14 clubs and 470 registered senior players. The national side is ranked 43rd in the world (as of 29 July 2019).

History

The Fédération Ivoirienne de Rugby, the national rugby union federation, was formed in March 1990, the same month that it joined the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international ru ...

. They qualified for the World Cup the first time in 1995 and suffered defeats by

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

. With a small player base, and starved of strong competition, the team has deteriorated in recent years. Recent defeats to

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

mean they are ranked below the North African side. Their record in the World Cup has been poor, and they haven't managed a win. Their record defeat, 89–0 against

in the

tournament, led to some questioning the presence of the minor teams at the tournament. Ivory Coast, however, played much better in the following match, losing to

by 54–18, with 2 tries scored. The final match with Tonga, lost by 29–11, in the 1995 World Cup saw a major tragedy, as

Max Brito Max Brito (8 April 1968 – 19 December 2022) was an Ivorian rugby union player on the Ivory Coast rugby team. As a result of injuries sustained at the 1995 Rugby World Cup in South Africa, he was paralysed. As of 2007, he could only move hi ...

suffered a cervical spine injury that left him a

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or ...

. After the 1995 Rugby World Cup, Ivory Coast took a three years break from international competition, only returning for the

1999 Rugby World Cup The 1999 Rugby World Cup was the fourth Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial international rugby union championship. It was principally hosted by Wales, and was won by Australia. This was the first Rugby World Cup to be held in the sport's professi ...

qualifyings, in September 1998. Ivory Coast was very unfortunate, losing all the three matches, to

(10–22),

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...

(0–32), and

(3–6), in a tournament held in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

. After another hiatus of two years and a half, the Elephants returned for the Africa Championship, in 2001, losing both matches with Morocco, 11–18 at home and 18–20 away, and achieving an 11–11 draw with

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

, abroad, and a 46–0 win at home. Ivory Coast missed the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

qualification, after losses to Tunisia (8–13) and Morocco (21–23). In the

2007 Rugby World Cup The 2007 Rugby World Cup was the sixth Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. Twenty nations competed for the Webb Ellis Cup in the tournament, which was hosted by France from 7 September to 2 ...

qualifyings, they started promisingly with two wins with

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 ...

(20–6) and

(33–3), but had mixed results with Morocco, a 9–9 draw at home and a 7–23 loss abroad, and Uganda, with a 7–32 loss abroad and an 18–9 win at home, and were subsequently eliminated. The Ivorians advanced of the semi final stage of the

qualifiers, after a 21–9 win over

, in

. They faced Namibia afterwards, reaching a 13–13 draw at

Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, making it the sixth most populous city p ...

, but losing by 14–54 in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

, being unable to qualify once again. In the 2015 World Cup qualifying campaign the Ivory Coast were eliminated at the group stage after coming second in a five team group. Each team only played two matches so despite winning both their matches they finished behind Botswana who also won both their matches.

Results summary

As of 12 July 2021 their record against all nations is as follows:

World Cup record

Current squad

Squad for the 2011 World Cup qualifiers against

. Ivory Coast squad for the Africa Cup match

(3-60) is available here.

References

External links