Laurent N'Dri Pokou (10 August 1947 – 13 November 2016) was an Ivorian

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a striker. He notably played for French club Stade Rennais F.C.

International career

Pokou was a member of the Ivory Coast national team, who was twice the highest goalscorer of the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

, scoring six goals in the 1968 tournament in Ethiopia and eight in the 1970 edition in

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

, including five in one match against

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, which Ivory Coast won 6–1. This performance gave him his nickname ''L'homme d'Asmara'' (the man of

Asmara Asmara ( ), or Asmera (), is the capital and most populous city of Eritrea, in the country's Central Region (Eritrea), Central Region. It sits at an elevation of , making it the List of capital cities by altitude, sixth highest capital in the wo ...

). With 14 total goals, he is also the tournament's second highest overall goalscorer, behind

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

Samuel Eto'o Samuel Eto'o Fils (; born 10 March 1981) is a Cameroonian Association football, football administrator and former Football player, player who is the current president of the Cameroonian Football Federation. He is often regarded as one of the ...

, who eclipsed Pokou's record in the 2008 ACN tournament. On 23 October 2023, CAF and PUMA announced the official match ball for the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, known in short as the 2023 AFCON or CAN 2023 and for sponsor (commercial), sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies 2023 Africa Cup of Nations, was the 34th edition of the biennial Africa Cup of Nations tournam ...

, named "POKOU" in honor of Laurent Pokou. The ball, which features the colors of the

Cote d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

flag and incorporates advanced technology, celebrates Pokou's legacy, including his record-breaking performance in the 1970 Africa Cup of Nations. Laurent Pokou's son, Erwan, presented the ball, expressing the family's honor and gratitude for this tribute to his late father's contributions to Ivorian football.

Lauren Pokou Stadium

On 8 September 2023, the Laurent Pokou Stadium was officially inaugurated in San-Pédro. This new stadium was named in honor of Laurent Pokou. The inauguration ceremony was led by the Minister of Sport, Claude Paulin Danho, and was attended by the Chinese ambassador, representatives from the construction companies, members of the Laurent Pokou family, the organizing committee of the

, and other senior officials. On 9 September 2023, following its inauguration, the Laurent Pokou stadium hosted its first official game. This historic match was part of the

2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, the 34th edition of the international men's fo ...

and witnessed the

Ivory Coast national football team The Ivory Coast national football team ( French: ''Équipe de football de Côte d'Ivoire'', recognized as the Côte d'Ivoire by FIFA) represents Ivory Coast in men's international football. Nicknamed ''the Elephants'', the team is managed by t ...

securing a 1–0 victory against

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

. This game was significant as it was the first national team match ever played in San-Pédro.

References

External links

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Laurent N'Dri Pokou - Goals in International Matches
1947 births 2016 deaths Footballers from Abidjan Men's association football forwards Ivorian men's footballers Ivory Coast men's international footballers 1968 African Cup of Nations players 1970 African Cup of Nations players 1974 African Cup of Nations players 1980 African Cup of Nations players Ligue 1 players ASEC Mimosas players Stade Rennais FC players AS Nancy Lorraine players Ivorian expatriate men's footballers Ivorian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate men's footballers in France {{Côted'Ivoire-footy-bio-stub