Ivory Coast v Norway prediction, lineups & tips: World Cup 2026 round of 32

Ivory Coast step into uncharted territory at the FIFA World Cup 2026 on Tuesday, making their first ever appearance in the knockout rounds after navigating Group E as runners-up. Standing between them and the last 16 is a Norway side that returned to the World Cup after a 28-year absence and brought a very particular kind of chaos with them, eight goals scored, seven conceded, five goals per game across their three group fixtures. The reward for whoever wins in Dallas is a potential round of 16 date with either Brazil or Japan.

Emerse Fae's Elephants ran a composed group campaign. A 1-0 win over Ecuador was followed by a narrow and contentious 2-1 defeat to Germany, in which a 94th-minute Deniz Undav goal overturned Franck Kessie's opener. Ivory Coast regrouped for the finale, beating Curacao 2-0 with Nicolas Pepe scoring both goals to seal second place. Pepe became only the second Ivory Coast player to score twice in a single World Cup match, and Yan Diomande, the 19-year-old RB Leipzig winger drawing attention from several of Europe's biggest clubs, delivered the assist for the opener.

Fae spoke to FIFA.com after the Curacao win and set the tone clearly. He said: "We're happy and proud, but we're looking even further ahead. We're going to rest up well for our next match. They can keep cheering us on so we can go as far as possible." Fae has also spoken openly of wanting to emulate Morocco's run to the 2022 semi-finals.

Norway's group stage was a different kind of ride. Stale Solbakken's side beat Iraq 4-1 in Boston and edged Senegal 3-2 in a game where cramp reduced several Norwegian players to a standstill in the New York humidity. With qualification already secure, Solbakken made 10 changes for the France finale, resting Erling Haaland and Martin Odegaard. The result was a 4-1 defeat, with Ousmane Dembele scoring a 32-minute hat-trick for Les Bleus. Haaland, by contrast, arrives at AT&T Stadium fresh and with four goals from his first two appearances at the tournament. He has scored in each of his first two World Cup games and could become the first player since Hungary's Sandor Kocsis in 1954 to score in each of his first three World Cup appearances.

Solbakken was candid in his pre-match assessment of the Ivorians, telling FIFA.com: "They have a good mix in their midfield three, with a playmaker, a runner and a stabiliser. They also have two good wingers, a striker that can both keep the ball up and go behind and they have two powerhouses at centre-back. Their team is very good, but we are a good team when we play to our best." He also acknowledged that resting his key men against France was a deliberate leveller: "We have cancelled out their one extra day to rest so now we should be on equal terms in terms of physicality, which I see as one of their biggest strengths."

Ivory Coast v Norway kicks off at 18:00 BST on Tuesday, 30 June 2026. In the UK, the match is broadcast live on BBC One, with streaming available via BBC iPlayer.