Global media focuses on World Cup-related developments including national team selections, player injuries affecting rosters, and mounting advocacy regarding rights violations at the tournament.
Côte d'Ivoire is a leading economy and political heavyweight in francophone West Africa, with its official capital at Yamoussoukro and its commercial and diplomatic hub in Abidjan. A presidential republic led by President Alassane Ouattara, it is a member of ECOWAS and the West African Economic and Monetary Union, and maintains close ties to France and other Western partners. News readers should watch recurring political tensions around presidential elections and succession, the legacy of the 2002–2011 civil conflicts and a regional north-south, Muslim-Christian fault line, and growing security pressure from jihadist activity spilling over from the Sahel along its northern borders with Mali and Burkina Faso.