Ivory Coast names strong AFCON 2017 team

Manchester United defender Eric Bailly and Crystal Palace winger Wilfred Zaha have been named in a provisional squad of 24 players by Ivorian coach Michel Dussuyer.

Also called is veteran forward Salomon Kalou, who is set to appear in his fifth Nations Cup and PSG defender Serge Aurier.

Ivory Coast, which is the defending champions, will however be without its captain Gervinho who was ruled out of the tournament after he suffered a serious knee injury.

The elephants have a training camp in Abu Dhabi starting on 2 January.

The west African nation has lined up two friendly matches against Sweden on January 8 and Uganda, three days later.

The final list of the 23 players will be named on January 4th ahead of the tournament which will kick off in Gabon on 14 January.