Côte d’Ivoire begin new Renard era against depleted Ghana
Côte d’Ivoire host Ghana at the Stade de la Paix in Bouaké on Thursday, 24 September 2026, in the opening round of Africa Cup of Nations qualifying, Group C. Kick-off is at 19:00 local time, which is 21:00 CEST. It is the biggest fixture of the first matchday and it comes with two very different back stories: the hosts begin a new era under Hervé Renard with a squad rebuilt around youth, while the visitors have spent the week watching their squad list shrink. Both nations reached the round of 32 at the World Cup and went out by a single goal.
Ghana lost eight players from their original pool in the days before camp opened, and Queiroz said only twelve of the players he first named were immediately available.
Predicted lineups: Côte d’Ivoire vs Ghana
Neither manager has given anything away, and the only published lineup projection for this game still includes players who have since withdrawn, so both elevens below are built from the current squads and each side’s World Cup shape. For Côte d’Ivoire, the right side of the defence is the open question after Guéla Doué and Kossounou pulled out: Luck Zogbé, called up on Saturday, is the natural right-back, with Emmanuel Agbadou and Junior Diaz the alternatives inside. Ghana played a 5-4-1 against England and Colombia and I expect Queiroz to keep it, with Jonas Adjetey and Alexander Djiku in the middle and Jordan Ayew or Brandon Thomas-Asante as the lone striker. The Ghanaian eleven carries real uncertainty because most of the group only assembled on Monday evening and Tuesday.
Côte d’Ivoire Team News & Preview
Renard was appointed on 4 August as Emerse Faé’s successor, eleven years after leading the Elephants to the 2015 title, and his first squad list on 16 September made the direction clear: eight newcomers, seven of them under 21, and no place for Sébastien Haller, Simon Adingra, Evan Guessand or Seko Fofana. „Cela fait partie d’un nouveau cycle qui commence,“ he said of the youth. Amad Diallo, Wilfried Singo and Martial Godo are injured, and the list has already been reshuffled twice: Odilon Kossounou and Guéla Doué withdrew on Saturday, Junior Diaz of Troyes and Luck Zogbé of Brest came in, and a planned call-up for Strasbourg’s Ismaël Doukouré collapsed over an eligibility switch that could not be processed in time. That leaves the right side of the World Cup defence – Doué, Kossounou and Singo – entirely rebuilt. The rest of the spine is intact: Yahia Fofana in goal, Evan Ndicka and Ousmane Diomandé in the middle, Ibrahim Sangaré and Franck Kessié in midfield.
Going forward, this is a squad valued at €479m on Transfermarkt, and the attacking talent is unusual for a matchday-one qualifier. Yan Diomandé, 19, joined Real Madrid for a fee reported at €140m this summer and started with an assist against Elche, Bazoumana Touré is valued at €50m, Nicolas Pépé scored twice against Curaçao at the World Cup, and Ange-Yoan Bonny of Inter and Elye Wahi compete for the number nine role that Wilfried Bony publicly flagged as the team’s weak spot under Renard. The World Cup itself was solid rather than spectacular: 1-0 against Ecuador, 1-3 against Germany, 2-0 against Curaçao and a 1-2 exit to Norway in Dallas after Haaland’s late winner. The squad gathered in Abidjan on Monday, trained there and moved to Bouaké on Tuesday with a full group.
What works for or against Côte d'Ivoire
- Ndicka, Ousmane Diomandé, Sangaré and Kessié – the defensive core from the World Cup – are all available, and Yahia Fofana has 38 caps in goal.
- The entire right side of the defence is new after Doué, Kossounou and Singo dropped out, and Renard has had one week with a squad containing eight newcomers.
- Yan Diomandé (€90m), Bazoumana Touré (€50m), Bonny and Pépé give Renard an attack worth €181m, and Pépé scored twice in the last World Cup game the Elephants won.
- Bouaké rather than Abidjan hosts the game, and Renard's first competitive fixture is also the group's hardest on paper.
Ghana Team News & Preview
Carlos Queiroz’s week is best summed up by his own words at Monday’s press conference in Accra: „We have a couple of holes in our boat, but we keep sailing strong.“ Mohammed Kudus pulled out after Tottenham’s game to protect his recovery from a seven-month injury, Nathaniel Adjei and Prince Adu were injured at their clubs, Thomas Partey was never called because of a thigh problem, and on Tuesday Antoine Semenyo – the €80m Manchester City winger and the most valuable player in the squad – withdrew with a swollen ankle. Kamaldeen Sulemana and Iñaki Williams were left out from the start. The GFA added nine players on Monday, among them Jonas Adjetey, Alidu Seidu, Brandon Thomas-Asante and Mohammed Fuseini, and only seven players were on the pitch for the first training session. Queiroz was blunt about the consequence: „Players arrive today and Thursday we have a game. There is no room for great decisions.“
The way Ghana play makes the absences bite in a specific place. Under Queiroz they defended in a 5-4-1 at the World Cup, drew 0-0 with England, lost 0-1 to Croatia and 0-1 to Colombia, and scored just twice in four games – Caleb Yirenkyi’s stoppage-time winner against Panama being the moment the whole tournament rested on. Kudus and Semenyo were the two players capable of turning that block into goals; without them, the attack is Ernest Nuamah, Christopher Bonsu Baah and a 35-year-old Jordan Ayew who has played fewer than 70 minutes in three Sheffield United games and is facing calls to retire after a goalless World Cup. Queiroz has defended him and dismissed criticism of his style – „The only style I know is winning“ – but the numbers say this is a team built to keep the score down, now missing the players who made the difference at the other end.
What works for or against Ghana
- Kudus, Semenyo, Partey and Adjei are all missing, and the nine replacements only met their team-mates on Monday and Tuesday.
- Two goals in four World Cup games, none against England, Croatia or Colombia, and the two men who created most of the chances are not here.
- Queiroz's 5-4-1 conceded only twice at the World Cup, and Adjetey, Djiku and Opoku give him a physical defensive unit.
- Nuamah and Bonsu Baah offer pace on the counter, which is where Ghana's best chance of a goal lies.
Côte d'Ivoire vs Ghana Odds
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Côte d'Ivoire vs. Ghana Stats Comparison
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Côte d'Ivoire vs. Ghana Form Guide
Côte d'Ivoire Form, Stats & Data
A squad worth twice Ghana’s, with an average age of 24.3, tells you both what Renard has inherited and what he is risking. The talent is concentrated in attack – Yan Diomandé, Touré, Bonny and Pépé are worth €181m between them – while the back line has lost €35m of value in Kossounou and Doué in a single weekend. At the World Cup the Elephants scored five goals in four games and conceded five, three of them to Germany, so they were not a free-scoring side even with Amad Diallo, who is also out now. What I take from the tournament is that Ndicka and Diomandé held firm against Ecuador and Curaçao and that the team was only opened up by elite opposition. Ghana without Kudus and Semenyo are a long way from that.
Ghana Form, Stats & Data
Strip Semenyo, Kudus, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Partey out of the Transfermarkt list and the Ghana squad in Bouaké is worth a fraction of the headline figure. The attacking numbers under Queiroz were already thin – two goals in four World Cup games, one of them Yirenkyi’s 95th-minute strike – and Kudus and Semenyo, who carried the attacking threat, are not here. Yirenkyi (€18m) and Fatawu Issahaku (€20m) are the most valuable players left in the group. This is why I prefer the Ghana team-goals bet to the match result: the defensive structure is real and could keep this tight, but the source of goals has been removed twice over.
Côte d’Ivoire vs Ghana: Prediction & Betting Tip
I am deliberately not building this around Côte d’Ivoire winning. Renard’s first game, with a rebuilt right side, eight newcomers and a number nine debate, is exactly the kind of fixture where a favourite can be held, and Ghana’s 5-4-1 held England to 0-0 in June. What I do trust is the other half of the equation. Ghana were a two-goals-in-four-games team with Kudus and Semenyo; without them, with Partey absent and a striker who has not scored at a World Cup, and with a squad that only assembled on Monday and Tuesday, I expect them to go through this game without finding the net.
The strongest argument against is the counter-attack: Nuamah and Bonsu Baah have the pace to punish a new Ivorian right side, and one set piece against a defence that has just been reshuffled is all Ghana need to kill the bet. That risk is why the stake is moderate, but a defence led by Ndicka and Ousmane Diomandé, in front of a home crowd in Bouaké, should limit those moments to very few.
My main bet is **Ghana under 0.5 team goals at 1.97 with MyStake**. My correct-score pick is 1-0.