DR Congo

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's national team, nicknamed the 'Leopards,' is one of Central Africa's most storied football programs. Competing under different national names as the country's own identity has changed over the decades, the team built a golden era of continental dominance in the late 1960s and 1970s. The Leopards represented Africa at the 1974 FIFA World Cup, the continent's second-ever appearance at the tournament. Today the program continues to compete for regional and continental honors as a proud member of the Africa Cup of Nations field.

The Congolese football federation was founded in 1919, well before the country's 1960 independence, and the national team has competed as Congo-Léopoldville, Congo-Kinshasa, and Zaire before adopting its current name. The program's high-water mark was winning back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations titles: as Congo-Kinshasa in 1968, beating Ghana 1-0 in the final, and as Zaire in 1974, defeating Guinea after a group-stage replay. That 1974 tournament also carried the Leopards to the 1974 FIFA World Cup in West Germany, the country's only World Cup appearance to date. The team remains one of only a handful of African sides with multiple continental championships to its name.