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Côte d’Ivoire 2010 World Cup squad.
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The map shows the birthplaces of the 23-man squad of Côte d’Ivoire, which competed in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. At the bottom of the map page are photos of projected starters and key subs (16 player photos). International appearances (aka caps) and international goals are listed and are up to date as of 25th June, 2010 (ie, when Ivory Coast exited the 2010 World Cup).
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IvoryCoast.WorldCupBlog.org/.
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2 players on the Ivory Coast roster were born in Europe, defender Sol Bamba, who was born in Paris, France (and plays professionally for Hibernian of Scotland); and defender Guy Demel, who was also born in Paris (and who plays for Hamburg of Germany).
I have shown the youth clubs of the players in two rectangles on the far right of the map page. 4 players attended youth acadamies in Europe (including Didier Drogba), and that is shown in the upper rectangle, with club logos (of Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain, the Parisian fourth division amateur club Levallois SC, and the Belgian third division club KSK Beveren). Below that are listed the players who attended youth clubs/academies in the Ivory Coast, including the 13 players who were in the youth set-up of the Ivorian giants, ASEC Mimosas of Abidjan. [I showed all the logos I could find. I couldn't find logos of two tiny clubs, FC Bibo and CF d'Inter.]
13 players on the squad come from the largest city in the Ivory Coast, Abidjan. Abidjan has a population of around 3.8 million in the city and around 5.1 million in the metropolitan area {2006 figure}. Abidjan is the fourth-largest French-speaking city in the world, after Paris, France; Kinshasa, DR Congo; and Montreal, Canada. As a whole, Ivory Coast has a population of around 15.4 million {see populations of 2010 World Cup nations here, from The Best Eleven site}.
Two more players come from Greater Abidjan, from Anyama, which is 10 km. NE of Abidjan. Anyama-born players in the squad are DF Benjamin Angoura (of Valenciennes in France) and FW Gervinho (of Lille in France).
The north of the country is predominantly Muslim. The recently ended Civil War in the Ivory Coast was drawn largely along Christian versus Muslim lines, with the Republic stronghold in the south, and the rebel-held north {see this map}. Two players on the Ivory Coast squad came from the northern region, both born in the second-largest city in the country, Bouaké (population of around 770,000 {2002 census figure})…the Touré brothers, Kolo (of Manchester Cty) and Yaya (of FC Barcelona).
The capital of Côte d’Ivoire is the centrally-located Yamoussoukro, which has a population of around 200,000 {2005 figure}. Two players on the squad were born in Yamoussoukro, defender Cheik Tioté (of FC Twente in the Netherlands), and Seydou Doumbia, a young striker (who plays in Russia for CSKA Moscow).
Two players, FW Salomon Kalou (of Chelsea) and back-up GK Daniel Yeboah (of ASEC Mimosas) were born SW of Yamoussoukro.
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Ivorian players in the 2010 Côte d’Ivoire World Cup squad, by locations of their current professional clubs…
In England, in the Premier League – 5 players.
In France, in Ligue Un – 4 players.
In Spain, in La Liga – 3 players.
In Germany, in Bundesliga-1 – 2 players.
In the Netherlansd, in the Eredivisie – 1 player.
In Russia, in the Russian Premier League – 1 player.
In Turkey, in Süper Lig – 1 player.
In Scotland, in the Scottish Premier League – 1 player.
In Romania, in Liga 1 – 1 player.
In Belgium, in the Belgian First Division – 1 player.
In Israel, in the Israeli Premier League – 1 player.
In Qatar, in the Qatar Stars League – 1 player.
In Côte d’Ivoire, in the Côte d’Ivoire Premier Division – 1 player.
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Thanks to the contributors to the pages at en.wikipedia.org, Côte d’Ivoire national football team.
Thanks to official FIFA site, for caps and goals info, Côte dÍvoire Squad List.
