Elephants in "Fighting" mode, big and small stories from the Ivory Coast team

Text by: Annie Gasnier Follow

A book signed by Ivorian journalist Adam Khalil, "Elephant Fights" at L'Harmattan, tells the great and little stories of the team from Côte d'Ivoire from 1984 to 2015. Interview.

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It's a funny moment for the release of a book! Fortunately for readers who currently have time for confinement, the orange-colored book is available digitally. It will be in paper version in the bookstores of Abidjan and elsewhere as soon as the deconfinement started.

2015, a great year

“  In 1984, when the Ivory Coast hosted the CAN, I discovered very young the fervor caused by football, from the stands where I followed my uncle, Jean Brizoua-Bi, then president of the Ivorian Federation (FIF)  Remembers Adam Khalil.

In 2015, it was as a journalist that he followed in Equatorial Guinea, the continental coronation of the Elephants led by Yaya Touré.

Between these two time marks, the Ivorians won two CANs (1992 and 2015), disputed four finals, and participated three times in the World Cup. With very good players. " Their performances have spread a better image of Côte d'Ivoire on the African and international scene ", assures our colleague.

" But beyond this great sporting adventure, I wanted to put in parallel the social implication of all our footballers ", explains the author.

Didier Drogba in Bouaké

For this reporter from Canal + Africa, who had his signature on the pages of the daily newspaper Fraternité Matin for so long , and who followed Ivorian internationals closely, "  National team players, like journalists and most Ivorians, wear them the philosophy defended since independence by our first president, Félix Houphouët Boigny: Côte d'Ivoire is a haven of peace  ”.

This is why from their locker room at a Sudan stadium, once their qualification assured for their first World Cup, that of 2006, all the players called kneeling "their brothers in Peace" in a country on the brink of civil war. This is why star Didier Drogba then went to present his first trophy for Best African Player in Bouaké, in the north of the country in the grip of the rebellion.

Ivory Coast-Madagascar, a capital encounter

“  The Ivory Coast-Madagascar match which took place in Bouaké on June 3, 2007 was crucial because on the ground, there were the Elephants, with for example Kolo Touré from the north and Didier Zokora from the south, and in the stands, members of the rebellion and loyalists including the Prime Minister. A fraternal moment that triggers the return to peace, so much so that the place has been renamed the Peace Stadium! And that on July 31, 2007, the Flame of Peace took place in this sports arena, a ceremony marking National Reconciliation  , ”recalls this witness to these historic moments.

" The players have contributed to national reconciliation in this crazy football population, and they must continue to be this vector of solidarity, of union, because in the country, everything is still very fragile, " adds Adam Khalil.

Only black spot, " a dark episode " also told, the sending of the eliminated idols to the CAN 2000, in recovery camp!

In photo on the cover of the book, prefaced by Hervé Renard, the coach in the white shirt is supervised by his captain in 2015, Yaya Touré, and Didier Drogba. Two immense players, who notably shone in the English championship, and are the subject of the same chapter. Opponents? Enemies?

Let the Elephants get involved in football

Friend of the two men, Adam Khalil smiles: “  I know and they know everything that has been said about them! And even if there was a tug of war, desires for leadership, these two footballers who are also friends, have always played on the same team and played the same sport: brighten up and make people dream, and make the Elephants win ! "

Adam Khalil now hopes that all these footballers, adored in the orange jersey, become even more involved in football. Like the Ghanaian Anthony Baffoe in the African Confederation (CAF) or the Tanzanian Kalusha Bwolya in his federation.

These days, Adam Khalil is attentively observing a new elephantine fight in Ivorian territory: Didier Drogba is a candidate for the presidency of the FIF against two other people. Perhaps he will be helped by former teammates, if he becomes president?

The interview with Adam Khalil can be found on the Facebook page of Radio Foot International

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