Ivory Coast Make History, Book 1st-Ever FIFA Knockout Spot After Beating Curacao

It was a fascinating moment, full of excitement as another Africa team secured victory and advance from the group stage at the ongoing FIFA 2026 World Cup.

The brace scored by Nicolas Peps against Curacao on Thursday, June, 2026, gave Ivory Coast a historic place in the FIFA World Cup knockout stage for the first time in the country’s history.

The former (Arsenal) winger who is currently playing in Spanish La-Liga with Villarreal, found the back of the net twice in each half as the Elephants sealed second place in Group E with six points, thereby halting Curacao’s World Cup campaign dream.

Pepe gave the 2024 African champions an early advantage after just seven minutes at the Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, before adding his second shortly after the hour mark to wrap up a comfortable victory.

Ivory Coast finished the group stage with six points, following an opening 1-0 victory over Ecuador and a narrow 2-1 defeat to group winners Germany.

Although Ecuador stunned Germany 2-1 in the group’s other fixture, the Germans still claimed top spot on the head-to-head tiebreaker, leaving Ivory Coast to progress as runners-up.

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The result marks a major milestone for the Elephants, who had failed to advance beyond the group stage in each of their previous three World Cup appearances.

Their reward is a Round of 32 clash in Dallas next Tuesday, against the runners-up from Group I, with either France or Norway likely to stand in their way.

For Curacao, simply qualifying for the World Cup was already a remarkable achievement.

With a population of just over 160,000, the Caribbean nation became the smallest country ever to compete at the tournament.