adminGoalkeeper Daniel Yeboah would have been the only locally-based player but signed for French side Dijon from Asec Mimosas yesterday.
There are a total of seven England-based players on the list, including Sol Bamba who plays in the Championship with Leicester City.
The squad are due to meet in Paris tomorrow before flying out to Abu Dhabi for a pre-tournament training camp, during which they are due to play friendlies against Tunisia and Lebanon.
Zahoui is insisting that all players join up with the squad on the Fifa deadline, which is 14 days before the tournament kicks off on 21 January.
This means that Kolo and Yaya Toure of Manchester City as well as the Chelsea duo of Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou will not be available for their club’s FA Cup games on Sunday.
Also affected will be Gervinho, with Arsenal due to play on Monday.
It is not clear whether Sol Bamba of Leicester City would be allowed tomorrow, while Newcastle seem resigned to being without Cheick Tiote on the same day.
Cote d’Ivoire again head into this Nations Cup as one of the favourites, especially given the absence of major teams such as Nigeria, Cameroon and Egypt.
But in recent years Cote d’Ivoire ‘s star-studded line-up has frequently under-performed despite being the continent’s top-ranked team and coach Zahoui warned against complacency.
“In Cote d’Ivoire we’ve got a big problem — we don’t respect our opponents”, he said.
“When we go to a Cup of Nations people say “oh no, this team aren’t there, this team aren’t there’ and each time people are disappointed because we go as the super-favourite and then come back disappointed.”
The only real surprise on the list is Marco Taddei Ne who plays for Ukrainian side Tavria Simferopol.
Cote d’Ivoire preliminary squad:
Goalkeepers: Barry Boubacar (Lokeren, Belgium), Gerrard Gnanahouan (Avranches, France), Daniel Yeboah (Dijon, France), Ibrahim Kone (US Boulogne, France)
Defenders: Siake Tiene (Paris St Germain, France), Arthur Boka (Stuttgart, Germany), Benjamin Angoua Brou (Valenciennes,
France), Igor Lolo (FC Kuban Krasnodar, Russia), Didier Zokora (Trabzonspor, Turkey), Emmanuel Eboue (Galatasaray, Turkey), Kolo Toure (Manchester City, England), Souleymane Bamba (Leicester City, England)
Midfielders: Kafoumba Coulibaly (Nice, France), Jean-Jacques Gosso Gosso (Orduspor, Turkey), Didier Ya Konan (Hannover, Germany), Cheick Tiote (Newcastle United, England), Max Gradel (St Etienne, France), Yaya Toure (Manchester City, England), Marco Taddei Ne (Tavria Simferopol, Ukraine)
Forwards: Gervinho (Arsenal, England), Seydou Doumbia (CSKA Moscow, Russia), Didier Drogba (Chelsea, England), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea, England), Wilfried Boni (Vitesse Arnhem, Netherlands), Abdul Kader Keita (Al Sadd, Qatar). — Reuters.
Online Reporter