France, June 3 -- For the first nine World Cups between 1930 and 1970, Cote d'Ivoire was either still part of France, not a member of Fifa, or simply chose not to participate in the tournament.

When a national side attempted to qualify for the 1974 World Cup in West Germany, they fell short. The same happened for the 1978 tournament in Argentina.

It was a generation of players including Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, his brother Kolo, and Didier Zokora who finally took Cote d'Ivoire to the World Cup in 2006, though they owed no small debt to Egypt. Didier Drogba played 105 times for Cote d'Ivoire between 2002 and 2014 and scored a record 65 goals.

Tense conclusion to qualifying campaign

Going into the final round of African qualifiers on ...