Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso in battle for last eight

The Gabon team looks on during the AFCON Group F match between Gabon and Ivory Coast at Marrakech stadium, Marrakech, Morocco on December 31, 2025. [AFP]

The final Round of 16 fixture at the Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 will see West African neighbours Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso, face off at the Grand Stade Marrakech tonight.

The two nations share a 545-kilometre border, with the Ivory Coast lying to the south of Burkina Faso.

The border runs west from a tripoint with Mali to another tripoint with Ghana in the east, underlining the close geographical and regional ties between the sides.

This will be the third meeting between the teams at the Africa Cup of Nations, having previously met in back-to-back group stage encounters in 2010 and 2012.

Those meetings both came in the group phase, making this their first-ever Afcon knockout round clash.

In the 2010 finals, they were drawn in a three-team Group B alongside Ghana and met in their opening game in Lubango on 11 January, which ended goalless. Ivory Coast progressed from the group along with Ghana.

Current Ivory Coast coach Emerse Fae was an unused substitute in that match.

They met again in Group B at the 2012 edition, where The Elephants secured a 2-0 victory with goals from Salomon Kalou in the 16th minute and a Bakary Kone own goal in the 82nd minute.

The Ivorians progressed from the group alongside Sudan, and they have kept a clean sheet in both previous Afcon meetings against Burkina Faso.

Overall, the two nations have met 20 times in all competitions. Ivory Coast has recorded eight wins, Burkina Faso three, with nine matches ending in draws.