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.
Glory period 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’. 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. 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.
The Ibengé era: 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
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.
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. == Home stadium ==