When people talk about the country Ivory Coast, the first thing come across their mind is soccer. As the largest sport worldwide, soccer does have vitally important influences on Ivory Coast. In Ivory Coast, you can see children playing soccer on the street, adults talking about soccer in the work place and television station playing soccer games all the day. The sport becomes more than a sport itself to Ivory Coast people during the past decades.
The national team of Ivory Coast made its name in 1992 by winning the African Cup of Nations. It was not the first time for Ivory Coast to take place in the African Cup but it was the best time for Ivorian. In Senegal, Ivorian welcomed their first championship. Winning Algeria with the score 3-0 and getting a draw with Congo with 0-0, Ivory Coast successfully advanced to the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Ivory Coast kept its momentum and won Cameroon in a penalty kick. The final was not easy for Ivorian, they had a draw with Ghana in the regular game time. Penalty kick followed and Ivorian won it with the score 11-10. This score is still the biggest score in soccer games till nowadays.
African championship made Ivory Coast famous out of African continent. People all over the world started to know the country and its fantastic soccer team. In the following years, Ivory Coast national team has become a strong force in Africa. They got a great record since 1992. They got the third place in 1994, fourth place in 2008 and the Runners-up in 2012. Now, when people talk about African soccer, they can avoid Ivory Coast since it is such a strong team.
The championship did not only bring fame and reputation to Ivory Coast. The championship started to change the country and young kids. Boys all over the country started to play soccer as their extracurricular activity. This change brought Ivory Coast a squad of young and talented soccer players in recent years. From Didier Drogba to Yaya Toure, these young players made Ivory Coast a stronger team and finally brought Ivory Coast to international stage. The 2006 World Cup in Germany was the first time for Ivory Coast to attend huge international games. The unstable domestic political situation didn’t influence the progress of the national team. In 2005, Drogba led the whole team beat Cameroon, another strong team in Africa. It was this victory that gave Ivory Coast the opportunity to attend the World Cup next year. Although they didn’t make it to the quarterfinals, they gave the whole world a strike and made more and more people start to know about their country. After the first World Cup, Ivorian didn’t slow down their progress. They also made it to the final stage of World Cup in 2010 and 2014.
The fast development of soccer not only made the national team famous all over the world, but also brought the country changes and opportunities. Those famous Ivorian soccer players, especially Drogba, actually became the role model of Ivorian kids. Their posters were all over the country. Young boys played soccer after school dreaming of becoming a national hero one day. Soccer brought people in Ivory Coast a little peace in their life. When playing soccer or watching their kids playing soccer, they temporarily get rid of their anxiety due to the unstable political situation. What’s more, during the sever civil war, soccer did bring real peace to the whole country. As the most famous player in the country, Drogba called for peace several times in public. But in 2008, Drogba brought his words into action. Drogba brought the separated country sit together and fight together in a soccer game against Madagascar. In this day, people put their anger and weapon down and fight as one.
