The DR Congo national football team (; ), recognised by FIFA as Congo DR and by CAF as DR Congo, represents the Democratic Republic of the Congo in men's international football. It is controlled by the Congolese Association Football Federation. They are nicknamed Les Léopards, meaning The Leopards. The team is a member of FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF). DR Congo have previously competed variously as Belgian Congo, Congo-Kinshasa and Zaïre.
DR Congo have been ranked as high as 28th in the FIFA Rankings. They won the Africa Cup of Nations twice (in 1968 as Congo-Kinshasa and in 1974 as Zaire), and were the first Sub-Saharan African team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, as Zaire in 1974. They are also one of the most successful teams in the African Nations Championship with two titles (2009 and 2016), second only to Morocco with three. They qualified for the World Cup in 2026 as DR Congo, and are currently ranked 41st in the FIFA Rankings (July 2026).
History
Early history The Congolese Association Football Federation was founded in 1919 when the country was not yet independent. The team played their first game in 1948 as Belgian Congo against Northern Rhodesia, now Zambia. The team recorded a 3–2 victory at home. DR Congo has been FIFA affiliated since 1962 and has been a member of CAF since 1963. The team's first official match was on 11 April 1963, against Mauritania in the L'Amitié Tournament played in Dakar, Senegal. DR Congo won the match 6–0. The national team appeared in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 1965.
First World Cup appearance The Democratic Republic of the Congo had its first international success at the 1968 African Cup of Nations held in Ethiopia, beating Ghana 1–0 in the final. The team's biggest ever win came on 22 November 1969 when they recorded a 10–1 home victory against Zambia. Although a handful of Congolese players were playing in Europe (particularly Belgium) during these years, foreign-based players were seldom recalled for international duty; a rare exception was Julien Kialunda who represented Zaire (as the country was by then known) at the 1972 African Cup of Nations while playing for Anderlecht.
The second continental title came at the 1974 African Cup of Nations in Egypt. The Leopards recorded a 2–1 victory against Guinea, another 2–1 victory against rivals Congo and a 4–1 victory against Mauritius. These results carried Zaire through to the semi-finals where they beat hosts Egypt 3–2. In the final, Zaire drew with Zambia 2–2. Therefore, the match was replayed two days later, where Zaire won the game 2–0. Zaire player Ndaye Mulamba was top scorer with nine goals, which remains a record for the tournament. After this, the team returned to Zaire on the Presidential plane, lent to them by Mobutu Sese Seko.
Zaire were the first Sub-Saharan African team to participate in a World Cup, qualifying for the 1974 tournament in place of the 1970 participant Morocco, whom they defeated in the decisive qualifier 3–0 in Kinshasa. Such was the desire to foster an identity of Zaire as a global player that Mobutu paid for advertising hoardings at the World Cup to display messages such as ‘Zaire-Peace’ and ‘Go to Zaire’. After their qualification for the World Cup, Mobutu invited the Zaire squad to his palace in Gbadolite, where he promised them cash and other gifts if they did well.
At the tournament itself, Zaire did not manage to score any goals and lost all of its games, but gave credible performances against Scotland and Brazil. However, the team's morale was low because they did not receive the resources they were promised, and had problems involving their Yugoslav coach, Blagoje Vidinić. Their match against Yugoslavia became a 9–0 loss, and remains one of the worst World Cup defeats. The Zaire team was threatened by their government that they would face consequences if they were to have a loss against Brazil by more than 3–0. A bizarre moment came in the match versus Brazil; facing a free-kick 25 yards out, defender Mwepu Ilunga, upon hearing the referee blow his whistle, ran out of the Zaire wall and kicked the ball upfield, for which he received a yellow card. This was voted the 17th greatest World Cup moment in a Channel 4 poll. Ilunga has stated that he was quite aware of the rules and was hoping to convince the referee to send him off. The intended red card would have been a protest against his country's authorities, who were alleged to be depriving the players of their earnings. Many contemporary commentators instead held it to be an example of African football's "naïvety and indiscipline".
Crisis period After winning the 1974 African Cup of Nations and participating in the 1974 World Cup, the team was eliminated in the first round of the 1976 African Cup of Nations after recording a draw and two losses in the group stage. Morocco went on to win the tournament. From 1978 to 1986, the country did not qualify for the African Cup of Nations, while not participating in qualification for the 1978 World Cup and 1986 World Cup. In the 1988 African Cup of Nations, Zaire finished last in their group despite having two draws.
Return to success From 1992 to 1996, Zaire reached three consecutive African Cup of Nations quarter-finals. In 1992 and 1994, they were beaten by Nigeria, and in 1996 they were beaten by Ghana. In 1997, the country returned to its former name of Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the national team was re-branded as the Simbas, a nickname that stuck for the next nine years. DR Congo played their first game on 8 June 1997 in Pointe-Noire which ended in a 1–0 loss to the Republic of the Congo. At the 1998 African Cup of Nations, DR Congo, led by Louis Watunda, surprisingly took third place, beating Cameroon in the quarter-finals and hosts Burkina Faso 4–1 on penalties in their last match after scoring three late goals to tie the encounter 4–4.
At the 2000 African Cup of Nations, the team finished third in their group, and in 2002 were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Senegal. Then, in 2004, DR Congo were eliminated after three straight defeats in the group stages. In 2006, led by Claude Le Roy, having finished second in the group behind Cameroon, the Congolese were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Egypt 4–1.
Struggles DR Congo were drawn in group 10 for qualifications for the 2008 African Cup of Nations, along with Libya, Namibia and Ethiopia. Before the last match day, the Congolese led the group, but they drew 1–1 with Libya in their final match while Namibia beat Ethiopia 3–2. This sent Namibia through to the Finals, while the Leopards were eliminated. DR Congo also failed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. In 2009, DR Congo won the 2009 African Championship of Nations, a competition reserved to players in domestic leagues, a tournament they would again win in 2016. DR Congo reached the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations finals in South Africa but were knocked out in the group stages after drawing all three matches.
Rise and near World Cup miss
In the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, DR Congo again drew all three group matches but this time finished second in the group behind Tunisia, and therefore advanced to the quarter-finals to play their rivals Congo (Republic), a match in which the Leopards came from two goals down to win 4–2. However, they were knocked out by the Ivory Coast 3–1 in the semi-finals. They ended up finishing third, beating Equatorial Guinea on penalties, after the third place match finished 0–0 in regulation time.
DR Congo under Ibengé improved radically and had an outstanding performance for many decades in a World Cup qualification. During the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification, DR Congo was grouped with Libya, Tunisia and Guinea. DR Congo managed an outstanding performance, beating Libya and Guinea home and away, but missed the chance after losing 1–2 to eventual World Cup qualifier Tunisia in Tunis and drew 2–2 at home to the same opponent.
Second World Cup appearance DR Congo finished second behind Senegal in the 2026 World Cup qualification Group B, before defeating both Cameroon and Nigeria in the second round. In the inter-confederation play-offs, they secured a 1–0 extra-time victory over Jamaica to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, marking their second World Cup appearance after 1974. The day after, the authorities announced a public holiday in the country for people to celebrate the achievement. On 17 June 2026, during the group-stage, Yoane Wissa scored the country's first ever World Cup goal against Portugal in Houston in an unexpected 1–1 draw, also claiming the country's first ever point in the tournament. On 27 June, DR Congo qualified for the knockout stage for the first time after achieving their first World Cup victory, a 3–1 win over Uzbekistan, in Atlanta. Yoane Wissa and Fiston Mayele scored goals against Uzbekistan.
On 1 July 2026, during the round of 32, DR Congo lost to England in 2–1 match in Atlanta, after shockingly leading during the first half of the game thanks to a goal by Brian Cipenga seven minutes into the match. Yoane Wissa took another shot at 42 minutes, which would have doubled the lead for DR Congo, but the ball hit the right side goalpost. Goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi made multiple saves during the match, including two against England's Jude Bellingham, but at 75 minutes Harry Kane scored a goal, and followed it up with another one at 86 minutes, which, ultimately, gave England the 2-1 victory.
Home stadium Stade des Martyrs has been the home of the national team since its establishment and they occasionally play their games at Lubumbashi.
Results and fixtures
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
2025
2026
2027
Technical staff PositionStaff Director of football Hérita Ilunga Sporting director Christian Nsengi-Biembe Technical director Médard Lusadusu Head coach Sébastien Desabre Assistant coach Rafael Hamidi Cuadros Goalkeeping coach Robert Kidiaba Match analyst Corentin Jourdan Physiotherapist Cédric D'Antonio
Coaching history
Léon Mokuna (1965) Ferenc Csanádi (1967–1968) Léon Mokuna (1968–1970) André Mori (1970) Blagoje Vidinić (1970–1974) Ştefan Stănculescu (1974–1976) Julien Kialunda (?–?) Otto Pfister (1985–1989) Ali Makombo Alamande (1989) Pierre Kalala Mukendi (1992–1993) Louis Watunda (1993) Pierre Kalala Mukendi (1994) Jean-Santos Muntubila (1995) Muhsin Ertuğral (1995–1996) Jean-Santos Muntubila (1996–1997) Mohamed Magassouba (1997) Celio Barros (1997) Saio Ernest Mokili (1997) Louis Watunda Iyolo (1998–1999) Médard Lusadusu Basilwa (1999–2000) Roger Palmgren (1999–2000) Mohamed Magassouba (2000) Jean-Santos Muntubila (2001) Yuri Gavrilov (2001) Eugène Kabongo (2002) Andy Mfutila (2002–2003) Mick Wadsworth (2003–2004) Claude Le Roy (2004–2006) Henri Depireux (2006–2007) Patrice Neveu (2008–2010) Robert Nouzaret (2010–2011) Claude Le Roy (2011–2013) Jean-Santos Muntubila (2013–2014) Florent Ibengé (2014–2019) Christian Nsengi-Biembe (2019–2021) Héctor Cúper (2021–2022) Sébastien Desabre (2022–present)
Players Current squad The following players were called up to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Equatorial Guinea (24 September 2026), Zimbabwe (28 September) and the 2 friendlies against Uganda (2 and 5 October). Caps and goals as of 2 October 2026, after the first match against Uganda.https://www.afrik-foot.com/rdc-sans-ses-cadres-et-avec-6-nouveaux-joueurs-lances-les-leopards-sinclinent-contre-un-pays-hote-de-la-can-2027
Recent call-ups The following players have also been called up for DR Congo in the last twelve months and are still eligible to represent.
INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE Preliminary squad. RET Player has retired from international football. SUS Suspended from the national team.
Records