The waterfronts of Chester and Wilmington are roughly 5,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean from Abidjan, the Ivory Coast’s largest city. But, for at least three weeks during the FIFA World Cup, the Ivorian men’s national team will call the banks of the Delaware River home.
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Les Éléphants hosted an open training session at Subaru Park on Friday evening, two days before it begins its World Cup campaign with a match against Ecuador at Philadelphia Stadium (aka Lincoln Financial Field) on Sunday (7 p.m., FS1).
Ivory Coast is the only nation scheduled to play at the Linc twice during the World Cup’s group stage, and it is the only team that will stay and train in the Delaware Valley during the tournament.
The team has set up its base camp at Hotel Du Pont in Wilmington and will train at Subaru Park in Chester.
Ivory Coast’s open training session Friday evening was the second free event it has staged for the Philadelphia community. Les Éléphants beat Union II, 2-0, in a tuneup friendly on Monday that was open to the public.
The team took its official squad photo before a training session that featured some light 11-on-11 work before being welcomed to the region by a committee of representatives for Visit PA.
Ivory Coast manager Emerse Faé addressed the crowd briefly in French after the session, saying the team has received a “warm welcome” in the region since their arrival last Saturday.
“We were well-received by the delegation here,” Faé said through a translator. “We want to see you on Sunday for the win.”
Meet Les Éléphants
For some, Friday night’s open practice was an opportunity to familiarize themselves before seeing Ivory Coast take the field for a match at the Linc.
Sam Shovers and Joe Santillo bought tickets to see Ivory Coast’s final group-stage match, a clash with Curaçao at the Linc on June 25.
“We wanted to get acclimated and support,” Shovers said. “I always wanted to go to the World Cup, so I’m trying to just get as invested and ingratiated in the vibes of it as possible.”
Shovers was wearing a plain orange T-shirt, while Santillo sported an Ivory Coast-specific shirt he ordered from Amazon.
The friends said they plan on adopting the Ivorian team as one of their favorites for the tournament and have spent the last few weeks learning more about the nation and its culture — Santillo is quick to point out that Ivory Coast is home to the world’s tallest domed church.
The team is of special interest to Shovers, 30, who majored in African studies in college.
“Most of my studies were with sub-Saharan and English-speaking parts of Africa,” Shovers said. “This part of West Africa has been an exciting area to get excited about.”
Around the world
Many fans in attendance at the open training were sporting the orange Ivory Coast kit or other unofficial gear, but jerseys of all kinds popped up throughout the crowd of about 5,000 people.
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The U.S., which opened its World Cup campaign with a 4-1 win over Paraguay late Friday night, was a popular selection among fans, as was English club Liverpool, which reportedly is pursuing 19-year old Ivorian winger Yan Diomande.
Sam Haile, 47, showed up to Friday’s session wearing a red Liverpool jersey. He said he cherished an opportunity to watch a potential future star for his favorite club up close.
“It’s good to see a World Cup team coming to our community, letting us watch the free training,” Haile said. “They’ve got a couple of really good, top players.”
Haile said it was also an opportunity to get into the spirit of the World Cup without paying for an expensive match ticket. He planned on attending the Union’s Soccer Celebration to watch the U.S. match Friday night, and the FIFA Fan Festival later in the tournament.
Haile was born in Ethiopia before coming to Philadelphia to enroll at Drexel in 1997. He’s stayed in the region ever since, moving to Middletown, Del. in 2009. Haile said he will be supporting the Ivorians through their World Cup run, calling it “a pleasure to watch them.”
“I have a little bit of a feeling for them,” Haile said. “I hope they will go further in the tournament and stick around in Wilmington until the end.”
Cultural exchange
While Philadelphian fans got an introduction to Ivorian culture on Friday, the Ivorian squad got a taste of Philadelphia’s, too.
Jamie Pagliei, better known as The Philly Sports Guy on social media, gave the team an official introduction over Subaru Park’s public address system after the training session ended.
With his face painted red, white. and blue for the U.S. game later that night, Pagliei praised Philadelphia Soccer 2026 for helping to bring free events like Saturday’s training to the Philadelphia region during the tournament.
“I feel like that, out of every city that’s hosting, that Philadelphia and Pennsylvania is doing it right,” Pagliei said. “We are going to be the ones that might be the snapshot that FIFA uses, that says, ‘Hey, this is what we want out of our host cities moving forward.’”
Nine nations will compete in five group stage matches this summer, plus two more in a knockout game on July 4. Here’s what you need to know about those countries — and what those fans need to know about Philly. Click here for more.
As the Ivorian players walked off the field, some stopped to admire the West Powelton steppers and drum squad, which performed throughout the concourses and in the River End on Friday.
Antoine Mapp has been with the steppers since the group’s founding in 1991. He’s worked Sixers games and Phillies games as part of the teams’ official drum lines, but Mapp said drumming in front of Ivory Coast’s stars was the most starstruck he’s been.
“That was a surreal moment,” Mapp said. “I’ve been around the biggest stars in the NBA. That, right there, was probably the biggest moment I’ve ever felt, to have a whole football team standing there watching us perform. It’s an awesome, surreal moment.”
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