The Ivory Coast Elephants qualified on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, in Abidjan for the third round of the African qualifiers for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, following a 3-0 victory against the Democratic Republic of Congo at the Félix-Houphouët-Boigny Stadium.
This victory brings the aggregate score of the two-legged tie to 7-1 in favor of the Ivorian team. The squad led by Reynald Pedros will face Cameroon in the next round, scheduled by the African Football Confederation between February 23 and March 6, 2027.
Safi N’Sira opened the scoring in the 17th minute, then Nadja Meité converted a penalty in the 25th. The two goals scored in the first half quickly diminished the Congolese hopes, as the DRC already had to make up for the three-goal deficit conceded in the first leg.
Ivory Coast added a third goal in stoppage time of the second half. CAF confirmed the 3-0 score and the Ivorian qualification in its report on the second round published Tuesday evening.
The Elephants had taken a clear advantage four days earlier by winning 4-1 in Lubumbashi. Grâce Ruth Sery had scored a brace, followed by goals from Estelle Gnaly and Karidja Fofana. Over the two matches combined, Ivory Coast scored seven goals and conceded only one.
Cameroon reached the third round without playing, following Guinea’s withdrawal. The next match will therefore pit the Ivorian team against the reigning African champions in a two-legged tie, with the winner advancing to the fourth round.
The African qualifiers take place over five knockout rounds and will award two tickets to the women’s Olympic tournament. CAF has not yet announced the exact dates for the two matches between Ivory Coast and Cameroon.
Reynald Pedros, then coach of Olympique Lyonnais, during the Women’s Champions League final in Budapest on May 18, 2019. Archive photo by Steffen Prößdorf published on Wikimedia Commons under CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Image resized and converted to WebP.
