DR Congo national football team

The Congolese Association Football Federation was founded in 1919 when the country was not 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.[3] The national team appeared in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 1965.

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.[4] 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’.[5] 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, their 9–0 loss against Yugoslavia remains one of the worst World Cup defeats. 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.[6] 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.[7] Many contemporary commentators instead held it to be an example of African football's "naïvety and indiscipline".[8]

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.

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's name changed to DR Congo and the national team was re-branded as the Simbas, a nickname that stuck for the next nine years.[9] 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.

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.

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 Republic of Congo, 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.

The following players have been selected for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Angola on 9 and 17 November 2020.[10]
Caps and goals as of 17 November 2020, after the second match against Angola.[11]

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Joël Kiassumbua	(1992-04-06) 6 April 1992	9	0	Servette
	1GK	Timothy Fayulu	(1999-07-24) 24 July 1999	0	0	Sion
	1GK	Jackson Lunanga	(1997-04-05) 5 April 1997	0	0	Vita Club
	2DF	Issama Mpeko	(1986-03-03) 3 March 1986	75	1	Mazembe
	2DF	Marcel Tisserand	(1993-01-10) 10 January 1993	27	0	Fenerbahçe
	2DF	Merveille Bokadi	(1996-05-21) 21 May 1996	18	1	Standard Liège
	2DF	Ngonda Muzinga	(1994-12-31) 31 December 1994	16	0	Dijon
	2DF	Christian Luyindama	(1994-01-08) 8 January 1994	15	0	Galatasaray
	2DF	Fabrice N'Sakala	(1990-07-21) 21 July 1990	13	0	Beşiktaş
	2DF	Bobo Ungenda	(1989-11-19) 19 November 1989	13	0	1º de Agosto
	2DF	Arthur Masuaku	(1993-11-07) 7 November 1993	8	1	West Ham United
	2DF	Gédéon Kalulu	(1997-08-29) 29 August 1997	1	0	Ajaccio
	2DF	Djuma Shabani	(1993-03-16) 16 March 1993	1	0	Vita Club
	3MF	Chancel Mbemba	(1994-08-08) 8 August 1994	57	4	Porto
	3MF	Neeskens Kebano	(1992-03-10) 10 March 1992	28	6	Middlesbrough
	3MF	Yannick Bangala Litombo	(1994-04-12) 12 April 1994	23	0	Vita Club
	3MF	Paul-José M'Poku	(1992-04-19) 19 April 1992	20	6	Al-Wahda
	3MF	Luamba Ngoma	(1994-01-22) 22 January 1994	10	0	Raja Casablanca
	3MF	Gaël Kakuta	(1991-06-21) 21 June 1991	9	1	Lens
	3MF	Samuel Moutoussamy	(1996-08-12) 12 August 1996	7	0	Nantes
	3MF	Jordan Nkololo	(1992-11-09) 9 November 1992	6	2	Riga
	3MF	Edo Kayembe	(1998-08-03) 3 August 1998	2	0	Eupen
	3MF	Jonathan Ifunga Ifasso	(1999-03-10) 10 March 1999	1	0	Difaâ
	3MF	Omenuke Mfulu	(1994-03-20) 20 March 1994	1	0	Elche
	3MF	Joel Ngandu Kayamba	(1992-04-17) 17 April 1992	1	0	Viktoria Plzeň
	4FW	Yannick Bolasie	(1989-05-24) 24 May 1989	43	9	Middlesbrough
	4FW	Cédric Bakambu	(1991-04-11) 11 April 1991	31	13	Beijing Guoan
	4FW	Jordan Botaka	(1993-06-24) 24 June 1993	23	4	Charleroi
	4FW	Benik Afobe	(1993-02-12) 12 February 1993	5	1	Trabzonspor
	4FW	Joël Beya	(1999-12-08) 8 December 1999	4	4	Mazembe
	4FW	Ben Malango	(1993-09-10) 10 September 1993	4	1	Raja Casablanca
	4FW	Yoane Wissa	(1996-09-03) 3 September 1996	2	1	Lorient
	4FW	Kadima Kabangu	(1993-06-15) 15 June 1993	2	0	Motema Pembe
	4FW	Nicke Kabamba	(1993-02-01) 1 February 1993	0	0	Kilmarnock
	4FW	Karim Kimvuidi Ntikubuka	(2002-03-13) 13 March 2002	0	0	Motema Pembe

The following players have been called up for DR Congo in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Anthony Mossi	(1994-05-15) 15 May 1994	6	0	Neuchâtel Xamax	v.  Morocco, 13 October 2020
GK	Parfait Mandanda	(1989-10-10) 10 October 1989	20	0	Hartford Athletic	v.  Burkina Faso, 9 October 2020 PRE
DF	Luete Ava Dongo	(1996-01-23) 23 January 1996	2	0	Antwerp	v.  Angola, 31 March 2020
DF	Amale Mukoko	(1998-10-17) 17 October 1998	1	0	Motema Pembe	v.  Angola, 31 March 2020
DF	Axel Disasi	(1998-03-11) 11 March 1998	0	0	Monaco	v.  Angola, 31 March 2020
MF	Jody Lukoki	(1992-11-15) 15 November 1992	4	0	Yeni Malatyaspor	v.  Morocco, 13 October 2020
MF	Peter Mutumosi	(1998-05-25) 25 May 1998	0	0	Urartu	v.  Morocco, 13 October 2020
MF	Miché Mika	(1996-09-16) 16 September 1996	6	0	Mazembe	v.  Angola, 31 March 2020
MF	Glody Likonza	(1998-05-10) 10 May 1998	0	0	Mazembe	v.  Angola, 31 March 2020
FW	Kazadi Kasengu	(1992-07-20) 20 July 1992	3	0	Wydad Casablanca	v.  Morocco, 13 October 2020
FW	Nill De Pauw	(1990-01-06) 6 January 1990	1	0	Antwerp	v.  Morocco, 13 October 2020
FW	Jackson Muleka	(1999-10-04) 4 October 1999	4	1	Standard Liège	v.  Angola, 31 March 2020
FW	Beni Badibanga	(1996-02-19) 19 February 1996	0	0	Mouscron	v.  Angola, 31 March 2020
FW	Isaac Tshibangu	(2003-05-17) 17 May 2003	0	0	Mazembe	v.  Angola, 31 March 2020
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.

Football at the African Games has been an under-23 tournament since 1991.

African Games record
Year	Result	GP	W	D	L	GS	GA
1965	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1973	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1978	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1987	-	0	0	0	0	0	0
1991–present	See DR Congo national under-23 football team
Total	4/4	0	0	0	0	0	0