The Elephants from the Ivory Coast caused a big upset when they beat the defending African champions Equatorial Guinea on away goals during the qualifying tournament for this year’s championships.
It was the first time in history that the defending champions had failed to qualify for the finals of the biennial tournament, while it was only the second time that the Elephants had qualified for the finals, after their debut in 2012.
The Ivory Coast played their first FIFA recognised international in 1988 when they lost 3-0 to the Netherlands, but it was not until 2002 when they entered the Africa Women Championship qualifiers for the first time. Here they lost on away goals to Mali after the teams were tied 4-4 on aggregate over two matches.
The Elephants did not enter the 2004 qualifying tournament but in 2006 they were back, losing a penalty shootout to Benin in the first round of the qualifiers. The teams drew both encounters 1-1, before Benin won a penalty shootout 4-3 to end the Ivory Coast’s progress.
In 2010, the Ivory Coast beat Gabon 5-2 on aggregate in the preliminary qualifying round, after winning 2-1 away and 3-1 at home.
In the away leg in Libreville, Rachelle Bankouly and Binta Diakite scored their goals, while Bankouly scored a hat trick in the return leg in Abidjan.
Their progress was however stopped in the first round of the qualifiers when they lost 5-2 on aggregate to Nigeria. Nigeria won both matches, 2-1 in Abidjan 2-1, with Koffi N’Guessan scoring for the Ivory Coast, and 3-1 in Abuja, with Binta Diakite scoring for the Elephants.
In 2012, the Ivory Coast reached the Africa Women Championship finals for the first time after convincing victories against Guinea and Mozambique in the qualifiers.
In the preliminary round they beat Guinea 10-1 on aggregate, after winning 5-1 at home and 5-0 away.
In the first round they beat Mozambique 12-0 on aggregate after winning 7-0 at him and 5-0 away.
At the finals in Equatorial Guinea, the Ivory Coast finished third in Group B, behind Nigeria and Cameroon.
They got off to a great start, beating Ethiopia 5-0 in their opening match, with Tia N’Rehy scoring a hat trick and Jeanne Gnago and Ange Koko one goal each.
The Elephants however lost their next two matches – 4-1 to Cameroon, with Estelle Nahi scoring their goal; and 3-1 to Nigeria with N’Rethy scoring.
Despite failing to reach the knockout stages of the tournament, Tia N’Rethy finished third among the top goal scorers with four goals.
In the preliminary qualifying round for this year’s tournament, the Elephants beat Mali 5-0 on aggregate, winning 4-0 at home and 1-0 away.
In the first qualifying round they then shocked Equatorial Guinea, winning on away goals.
They drew their first leg home match 1-1, with Mariam Diakite scoring a penalty, and then drew 2-2 away to Equatorial Guinea, with Ida Guehai and Koko N’Guessan scoring their goals.
The Ivory Coast is ranked sixth in Africa and 64 in the world.
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