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Glory Period: L'Amitié Tournament

The Democratic Republic of Congo national football team has experienced periods of international success and glory. They won their first African Cup of Nations in 1968, defeating Ghana 1-0 in the final. DR Congo had their second continental title victory at the 1974 African Cup of Nations in Egypt, defeating Guinea and Congo before drawing and replaying Zambia, winning the rematch 2-0. Zaire was the first Sub-Saharan African team to participate in the FIFA World Cup in 1974, where they lost all their games but gave credible performances against Scotland and Brazil, including a bizarre moment against Brazil where defender Mwepu Ilunga kicked the ball upfield from a free kick.

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65 views1 page

Glory Period: L'Amitié Tournament

The Democratic Republic of Congo national football team has experienced periods of international success and glory. They won their first African Cup of Nations in 1968, defeating Ghana 1-0 in the final. DR Congo had their second continental title victory at the 1974 African Cup of Nations in Egypt, defeating Guinea and Congo before drawing and replaying Zambia, winning the rematch 2-0. Zaire was the first Sub-Saharan African team to participate in the FIFA World Cup in 1974, where they lost all their games but gave credible performances against Scotland and Brazil, including a bizarre moment against Brazil where defender Mwepu Ilunga kicked the ball upfield from a free kick.

Uploaded by

Satheesh Kumar
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The Fdration Congolaise de Football-Association (FECOFA) 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 32 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 the 11 April 1963, againstMauritania in the L'Amiti Tournament played
in Dakar, Senegal. DR Congo won the match 60.[2]

Glory period[edit]
The Democratic Republic of the Congo had its first international success at the 1968 African Cup of
Nations held in Ethiopia, beating Ghana 10 in the final. The team's biggest ever win came on 22
November 1969 when they recorded a 101 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 at the 1972 African Cup of Nations while playing for Anderlecht.
The country's second continental title came at the 1974 African Cup of Nations in Egypt. The team
recorded a 21 victory against Guinea, another 21 victory against rivals Congo and a 41 victory
against Mauritius. These results carried Zaire through to the semi-finals where they beat
hosts Egypt 32. In the final, Zaire drew with Zambia 22. Therefore, the match was replayed two
days later, where Zaire won the game 20. Zaire player Ndaye Mulamba was top scorer with nine
goals, wehich 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 FIFA World Cup.[3] At the 1974 FIFA
World Cup Zaire did not manage to score any goals and lost all of its games, but gave credible
performances against Scotland and Brazil. However, their 90 loss against Yugoslavia remains one
of the worst World Cup defeats. A bizarre moment came in the match versus Brazil; facing a freekick 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,[4]though many commentators held it to be an
example of African football's "navety and indiscipline".[5] However, Ilunga has claimed 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.[6]

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