June 03, 2026
Lucas Peltier/Imagn Images
Ivory Coast is an athletic squad looking to create scoring chances.
The World Cup is about to take over stadiums across North America, including Philadelphia. And for some, it's the sporting experience of a lifetime. For other, more casual sports fans, and for many four-for-four Philly fans, it's hard to really unpack what's about to happen.
Over the course of around six weeks, the stadium typically called Lincoln Financial Field will host six games, five group stage matches and one knockout game, boasting teams from nine different countries.
It's time for a crash course.
We'll help introduce you to each of the national squads competing in Philly in June and July, continuing with the Ivory Coast.
Some more things to know:
Ivory Coast enters its first match as a slight underdog, and offers a clash of styles in contrast to Ecuador. While its South American counterparts are a defense-first team that intends to control pace and keep things organized, Ivory Coast leans on creating chaos and being physical.
It's an athletic team that plays with energy. Ivory Coast has qualified for the World Cup quite a few times, but it's never advanced past the group stage. With Germany likely to advance from Group E, the second spot in the knockout round is up for grabs. Whichever team wins this match could have a real shot at making history.
• More than 34 million people live there, making it nearly twice as populated as their first match opponent Ecuador.
• Their national soccer team is known as "The Elephants." Forest elephants are an endangered species there, numbering just around 500.
• Though a reported 69 languages are spoken, French is the official language of Côte d'Ivoire.
• Just about 40% of the world's cocoa beans come from Ivory Coast, making it the largest producer in the world.
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