AFCON 2025: Ivory Coast squad without Nicolas Pépé and Simon Adingra

As defending champions, the Ivory Coast has also revealed its list of players selected for AFCON 2025. Coach Emerse Faé indeed announced on Tuesday a group of 28 Elephants for the competition, which will be held in Morocco from 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026. The list includes regulars such as Sébastien Haller, Amad Diallo, Jean-Michael Seri and Ibrahim Sangaré. Wilfried Zaha, not called up since 17 October 2023, is also included.

Several key players are, however, absent. This is the case for Simon Adingra and Nicolas Pépé, the Villarreal forward. “Simon has faced competition for his position that is becoming increasingly fierce. Conversely, Simon has struggled for several weeks to string matches together and to earn a starting spot at his club, said Emerse Faé on RTI. Unfortunately we had to do without Simon’s qualities. His form is not optimal compared to that of his competitors.”

The squad

GOALKEEPERS

​Yahia Fofana (Caykur Rizespor, Turkey)
​Mohamed Koné (Charleroi SC, Belgium)
​Alban Lafont (Panathinaikos, Greece)

DEFENDERS

​Emmanuel Agbadou (Wolverhampton Wanderers, England)
​Boly Willy (Nottingham Forest, England)
​Ousmane Diomande (Sporting CP, Portugal)
​Guela Doué (RC Strasbourg, France)
​Ghislain Konan (Gil Vicente, Portugal)
​Odilon Kossounou (Atalanta BC, Italy)
​Evan Ndicka (AS Roma, Italy)
​Christopher Operi (Istanbul Başakşehir, Turkey)
​Armel Zohouri (FC Iberia 1999, Georgia)