Related videos:
Côte d'Ivoire and Norway will face off in the Round of 32 of the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday, June 30 at 17:00 UTC — 13:00 Cuba time — at the . Both teams enter this knockout stage as the second place finishers of their respective groups, with 6 points each, and they have never faced off in an official match before.
The match is set within the new expanded format of the 2026 World Cup, which for the first time in history includes a round of 32, featuring 48 teams in the tournament. Qualifying as the runner-up in the group is the usual path to reach this stage, and both teams achieved it through very different journeys.
Côte d'Ivoire finished Group E with four goals scored and two conceded, resulting in a goal difference of +2. The Ivorians started with a 1-0 victory against Ecuador, suffered a 2-1 loss to Germany in the second round, and secured their qualification with a 2-0 win over Curaçao on June 25 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, thanks to a brace from Nicolas Pépé in the 7th and 64th minutes.
The achievement has historical significance: it is the first time Ivory Coast has advanced past the group stage in a World Cup, during its fourth participation in the tournament (2006, 2010, 2014, and 2026). In the previous three editions, the Ivorians were eliminated in the first round without being able to progress. Pépé, a forward for Villarreal CF, was named the best player of the match against Curacao and is shaping up to be the team's main offensive reference for the knockout stage.
Norway, for its part, finished second in Group I with 8 goals for and seven against (goal difference +1). The Scandinavians returned to the World Cup after 28 years of absence — their last participation was in France 1998, where they reached the round of 16 — and had a group stage marked by notable ups and downs. They trounced Iraq 4-1 on June 16 with a brace from Erling Haaland in the 29th and 43rd minutes, and defeated Senegal 3-2 on June 22 with another brace from the Manchester City striker.
However, the last match of the group raised some doubts: Norway lost 4-1 to France on Thursday, in a game where Haaland was not on the field. Despite that defeat, the Norwegians maintained second place and secured their passage to the next round. The striker has accumulated 4 goals in the group stage and is the team's top scorer, while captain Martin Ødegaard leads the Scandinavian tactical scheme. After the loss to the French, Haaland was straightforward about it: "Honestly, I don't really care much now."
It is Norway's fourth participation in a World Cup (1938, 1994, 1998, and 2026), and the current generation, led by Haaland and Ødegaard, aims to match or surpass the country's best historical result, which was reaching the Round of 16 in France 1998.
The winner of the match between Ivory Coast and Norway will advance to the knockout stage, where they will face the winner of the match between Brazil and Japan.
Filed under: