---
title: "Kodjia To Return To Villa After Ivory Coast Are Knocked Out"
canonical: "https://readastonvilla.com/2017/01/24/kodjia-return-villa-ivory-coast-knocked/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Sheldon Muchmore"
section: "Aston Villa News"
published: "2017-01-24T20:56:12Z"
modified: "2017-01-24T20:56:12Z"
---

# Kodjia To Return To Villa After Ivory Coast Are Knocked Out

The Ivory Coast lost their final group game at the African Cup of Nations and, as a result, the reigning champions have been eliminated early from the competition.

The Elephants, who had drawn their opening two games, needed a win against Morocco in order to make it through to the Quarter Finals, but they could only manage a 1-0 loss. The Ivory Coast had got through the group stage in 2015 with 2 draws and a win, and they were hopeful that history could repeat itself this time around. However, it wasn’t to be.

This result will delight those Villa fans who have been keeping an eye on the Elephant’s progress in the competition, as it now means that Jonathan Kodjia will return to Villa a lot earlier than many had expected. To add to this, he should still be relatively fresh as he only played 83 minutes in their first game of the tournament and 15 minutes in their last game.

Kodjia will now be flying back to Birmingham in the next day or so and should definitely be available for Villa’s next match against Brentford on the 31st January.