Ivory Coast squad: the 25 Elephants called up to face Gambia (November 2026)

Ivory Coast coach Hervé Renard named his 25-man squad on Thursday 5 November 2026 for the double-header against Gambia on matchdays 3 and 4 of the AFCON 2027 qualifiers. It is the big clash of Group C: both teams have 6 points.

Ivory Coast's November fixtures

• Thursday 12 November 2026, 20:00 GMT: Ivory Coast vs Gambia, Stade de la Paix (Bouaké)
• Tuesday 17 November 2026, 17:00 GMT: Gambia vs Ivory Coast, Independence Stadium (Bakau)

The full 25-man squad

Goalkeepers (3)

Yahia Fofana, Alban Lafont, Mohamed Koné

Defenders (8)

Evan Ndicka, Ousmane Diomandé, Emmanuel Agbadou, Luck Zogbé, Abdoul Ouattara, Oumar Solet, Kassoum Ouattara, Hassane Kamara

Midfielders (7)

Franck Kessié, Ibrahim Sangaré, Christ Inao, Malick Yalcouyé, Patrick Zabi, Abdoulaye Kanté, Yaya Kader Fofana

Forwards (7)

Amad Diallo, Nicolas Pépé, Bazoumana Touré, Elye Wahi, Yoan Bonny, Martial Godo, Yan Diomandé

Four new faces

• Oumar Solet (Udinese)
• Abdoul Ouattara (Ipswich Town)
• Abdoulaye Kanté (Al-Ettifaq)
• Yaya Kader Fofana (Reims)

Three returns

• Amad Diallo (Manchester United)
• Hassane Kamara (Udinese)
• Martial Godo (Strasbourg)

Notable absentees

Sébastien Haller, Simon Adingra, Seko Fofana, Wilfried Singo, Guéla Doué, Odilon Kossounou and Ghislain Konan are not in the squad.

Elephants in form

• Elye Wahi (Nice) scored a hat-trick against Rennes (5-2).
• Yan Diomandé (Real Madrid) scored at Racing Santander (0-3).
• Evan Ndicka (Roma) scored against Udinese (5-2).

Group C: a battle for top spot

Ivory Coast have a perfect start: 2-0 vs Ghana and 2-0 in Somalia. But Gambia have also won both games, including a stunning 4-2 win in Ghana.

Two wins over Gambia would put the Elephants on the brink of AFCON 2027.

Our view

Ivory Coast are favourites, especially in Bouaké on 12 November. But Gambia are full of confidence, and the return game in Bakau will be tricky. Check out our Ivory Coast vs Gambia predictions before each match on FootballAfrik.