Congo’s Red Devils travel to Algeria with the dream and ambition of a memorable performance at the seventh edition of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Nations Championship. (CHAN).
They have been drawn in Group E alongside Cameroon and Niger and the team will be to surpass the quarter-final feat achieved during the last edition of the competition in Cameroon in 2021.
CHAN History
The Congolese Red Devils are returning to the African Nations Championship for a fourth time, and on the backdrop of two back to back quarter final appearances. It is on this latest results that they will find confidence, heading into the 2022 showpiece in Algeria.
Congo made their debut at the tournament in 2014 when it was held in South Africa and they could not make it off the group stages finishing third in their pool with four points.
After missing out in 2016, they qualified for back to back tournaments in 2018 and 2020 where they reached the quarter finals, and in both instances lost on penalties.
They lost to Libya in the 2018 edition and Mali in the 2020 edition staged in Cameroon in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the 2022 edition, Congo have been drawn in Group E, with their matches based in the Algerian region of Oran. They have been drawn against Cameroon, whom they also faced in the 2018 edition beating them 2-0 and also against Niger, who they faced in the last edition, the two sides drawing 1-1.
Match schedule
January 16, 2023 – Cameroon vs Congo, 8:00 p.m. local time, Olympic Stadium, Oran
January 20, 2023 – Congo vs Niger, 8:00 p.m. local time, Olympic Stadium, Oran
Head coach: Jean Élie Ngoya Obackas
Jean Élie Ngoya Obackas will take up the coaching task at the 2022 CHAN, offering him his first real test since replacing Barthélémy Ngatsono.
His arrival and the cumulative victory against the Central African Republic to qualify for their third straight CHAN has created enormous optimism in Congolese football circles.
He previous national team working experience was with the Congolese Under-23 national team, but left the role after he failed to lead the team to qualification for the Under-23 Africa Cup of Nations in 2013. In four qualification matches, he only won once with two draws and a loss to miss out on a ticket to the tournament that was staged in Egypt.
He had spent 10 months as the coach of the U23 team.
With a new technical bench and a huge task on his hands, Ngoya has a second opportunity to imprint himself on the national team job.
Local football history
Just as the national team hasn’t had as huge impact continentally, local Congolese clubs have paltry massive history on the continent.
The biggest success from the country in terms of continental football is AC Leopards, who won the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup in 2018. They have won the local league four times, their last being in 2017.
There are however several legendary local clubs including Diables Noirs, Etoile du Congo and AS Otoho d’Oyo, with the latter expected to contribute the biggest number of players in the final travelling contingent to Algeria.
Otoho, the defending champions of the local league have reached the group stages of the Confederation Cup twice; in the 2018-19 season and the 2021-22 season. They have won the Congolese league five times.
Of the three, Diables Noirs is the most successful locally, having won the league seven times and the Cup eight times. Continentally though, their best ever performance was a quarter final appearance at the 1966 Africa Cup of Champions Clubs.
Etoile du Congo, 11-time champions of the Premier League, reached the same continental height in 1980, as well as the CAF Cup Winners’ Cup (now Confederation Cup) in 2000.
Source: Confederation of African Football