Our good friends at Opta have complied all the numbers and stats you need to assess the teams’ chances ahead of today’s Afcon Group C clash at the Stade d'Oyem in Woleu-Ntem.
-Ivory Coast are the defending champions, having won the Afcon in 2015; it was their second title after 1992. The last team to win back-to-back titles were Egypt (3 in a row from 2006 to 2010).
-This is Ivory Coast’s 22nd Afcon participation, a tally only bettered by Egypt (23).
-Ivory Coast have lost only one of their last 16 games at the African Cup of Nations (W10 D5), it came against eventual winners Nigeria in their 2013 quarter-final.
-The last time Ivory Coast lost their first game at an Afcon was in 1996 (0-2 v Ghana). Since then, they have won five and drawn four of their openers.
-Meanwhile, this will be Togo’s eighth Afcon. They have only reached the knockout stages once in their previous seven participations, it was in 2013 when they went out in the quarter-finals.
-Togo have lost six of their last eight games at the Afcon (W1 D1). They have also never won their opening game in the tournament (D3 L4).
-The Ivory Coast are unbeaten against Togo at the African Cup of Nations (W2 D2). In fact, Togo haven’t beaten the Elephants in any competition since December 1987 (1-0).
-Wilfried Bony scored two goals and delivered three assists in six games at the 2015 Afcon, the joint-highest goal involvement alongside André Ayew.
-This is Michel Dussuyer’s fifth Afcon tournament as manager. The Ivory Coast boss has never progressed further than the quarter-finals (2004 and 2015, both with Guinea).
-Meanwhile, Togo manager Claude Le Roy is taking charge at his ninth Afcon tournament, with a sixth different nation (Cameroon, Senegal, DR Congo, Ghana, Congo, Togo). He’s made it to the knockout stages in seven of his eight previous tournaments, winning it in 1988 with Cameroon.