[9] They entered as favorites to advance under the leadership of striker Victor Osimhen, who was voted 2023 African Footballer of the Year and scored ten goals during qualification.

Osimhen scored an apparent second goal on a counter-attack near the end of the match; it was instead rescinded by video review and a penalty was awarded to South Africa for a foul in the build-up.

Teboho Mokoena scored from his penalty to tie the match at 1–1 in the 90th minute; the scoreline was unchanged through extra time, with South Africa playing through a red card for defender Grant Kekana.

[18] Hosts Ivory Coast automatically qualified for the 2023 tournament but were entered into the qualification round's group stage to play in competitive matches.

[21][22] In the opening match of the tournament, Ivory Coast defeated Guinea-Bissau 2–0 with goals from Seko Fofana in the fourth minute and Jean-Philippe Krasso after half-time.

[24][25] The upset loss to Equatorial Guinea included 22 shots for Ivory Coast, who had two goals voided by the video assistant referee due to offsides.

[24] After a failed attempt by the Ivorian federation to temporarily hire former manager Hervé Renard for the remainder of the tournament, Faé had five days to prepare the team for a knockout match against defending champions Senegal.

[30] The hosts advanced to a quarterfinal match against Mali and were held to a scoreless draw in the first half, but avoided conceding after a penalty kick was saved by Yahia Fofana.

Ivory Coast then lost defender Odilon Kossounou, whose foul had earned Mali the penalty kick, after he was ejected after being shown a second yellow card in the 43rd minute.

[32] The winning goal was scored from an acrobatic shot in the 65th minute by Sébastien Haller, who had returned to the team after treating his testicular cancer and saw limited playing time due to ankle injury.

[16][28] Faé became the second manager to reach a continental final after taking over mid-tournament, following Nasser Al-Johar with Saudi Arabia at the 2000 AFC Asian Cup.

[34] The latter chance resulted in a corner, from which William Troost-Ekong jumped higher than defender Serge Aurier to head Nigeria into the lead in the 38th minute.

[35] Ivory Coast were the more threatening after half-time; a cross from Adingra was saved by Nwabali, and Calvin Bassey blocked the rebound from Max Gradel.

[35] However, seven minutes later, Haller scored after he flicked Adingra's left-wing cross into the net to put Ivory Coast into the lead, which they maintained for the remainder of the match to win a third AFCON title.