Former French International Marcel Desailly says the Cote d'Ivoire is the African team to beat in next year's World Cup in Brazil.

Cote d'Ivoire booked their place at next year's FIFA World Cup in the last round of African qualifiers after a 4-2 aggregate scoreline against the Terranga Lions of Senegal over two qualifying rounds.

The Chelsea legend believes the Elephants of La Cote d'Ivoire have a better and quality team to raise the flag of Africa highest by reaching the Semi Final in next year’s World Cup.

"It's a shame that the number of African teams going to the World Cup is mainly from West Africa. The East African and Southern Africa are really lagging behind and that should not happen," Desailly told Supersport.

"As for the five that will go to Brazil, I think Cote d'Ivoire are the favourites to do better than Ghana in South Africa and reach the semifinals."

"African federations must invest in the system to ensure that they nurture the talent to improve and compete with the rest of the continents when it comes to competitions."

Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Nigeria, Algeria and Cameroon will represent Africa in Brazil 2014.