Congo-Brazzaville: Can Claude Le Roy's return spark a DR Congo-inspired revival?

While their neighbours DR Congo look to book their place in the last 16 of the World Cup against Uzbekistan on Sunday, the Republic of Congo are attempting a quieter kind of reconstruction. Mired in a sporting and institutional crisis that has dragged on for years, Brazzaville has turned to the one man who still represents the country's last real moment of hope: Claude Le Roy.

The 78-year-old Frenchman is returning to Pool Malebo in a dual capacity, serving as both national team head coach and sporting consultant. The exact shape of his role remains loosely defined, but the target is not: qualify the Congo for AFCON 2027 and breathe life back into a side that has sunk to 132nd in the FIFA rankings.

A trip down memory lane

For Congolese supporters, Le Roy's name is inseparable from the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

It was the first time the Red Devils had qualified for the tournament in fifteen years, and the veteran coach guided a generation — built around Prince Oniangué, Delvin Ndinga, Fodé Doré and an in-form Thievy Bifouma — to the quarter-finals. The journey had an unlikely beginning: Congo reached the group stage only after Rwanda — who had beaten them in qualifying — withdrew. But once there, they announced themselves by defeating Gabon and Burkina Faso before falling in a legendary Congo River derby against DR Congo. Trailing 2-0, Florent Ibenge's Leopards turned the match completely on its head to win 4-2.

Since that tournament, the Red Devils have not qualified for a single continental finals.

A decade of damage

The slide on the pitch is, if anything, the more straightforward part of the problem.

For nearly four years, Congolese football has been locked in an institutional war between the Sports Ministry and the federation. The dispute grew serious enough for FIFA to suspend FECOFOOT in 2025 on grounds of government interference, costing the national team several World Cup qualifying fixtures in the process. The crisis was compounded by the case of former federation president Jean-Guy Blaise Mayolas, convicted by a Congolese court of misappropriating more than one million dollars in FIFA funds. Authorities subsequently sought an Interpol red notice against the man who once famously compared football to draughts. The cumulative effect has been to hollow out whatever institutional credibility the game still had in the country.

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Le nouvel entraîneur des Diables Rouges Football, Monsieur Claude Le Roy, a été reçu en audience par le Président de la République, Son Excellence Monsieur @SassouNGuesso_ , ce 23 juin 2026, à sa résidence du plateau. pic.twitter.com/eZkv7wXM5v

— Présidence de la République du Congo - Officiel (@PR_Congo) June 23, 2026

Following the DR Congo blueprint?

Le Roy's plan to reverse the decline borrows heavily from the formula that transformed their neighbours: the recruitment of dual-national players.

DR Congo's World Cup squad contains 21 players raised abroad out of a 26-man squad, a strategy that allowed Sébastien Desabre to assemble a competitive side rapidly despite the structural shortcomings of domestic football. Le Roy wants to do the same, targeting European-based players with Congolese eligibility to reinforce a depleted national pool.

The comparison is almost inevitable. Both Congos share broadly similar problems: limited infrastructure, an underdeveloped academy system and a reliance on the diaspora to stay competitive internationally. On paper, the Republic of Congo could construct a credible AFCON squad. The potential additions of Faitout Maouassa (Nancy), Chrislain Matsima and Han-Noah Massengo (Augsburg), former Monaco winger Jordi Mboula (Leonesa), Junior Mwanga (Nantes), Bradley Locko (Brest) and — most intriguingly — Dilane Bakwa (Nottingham Forest, also eligible for DR Congo) have supporters daring to dream. Persuading those players to commit, though, is another matter entirely.

Reasons for caution

Because even with Le Roy back in the dugout, the picture is far from rosy.

Sports Minister Hugues Ngouélondélé, widely held responsible by supporters for much of the current dysfunction, remains in office. Several internationals, including Thievy Bifouma, Antoine Makoumbou and Gaius Makouta, have publicly taken issue with his management. Bifouma went as far as retiring from international football because of his disputes with the former Brazzaville mayor. His continued presence in government could yet deter some of the diaspora players Le Roy is hoping to attract.

There is also the straightforward question of age. At 78, Le Roy becomes one of the oldest coaches on the continent. Recent precedents — Dick Advocaat with Curaçao, Roy Hodgson in club football — suggest it remains possible to manage at an advanced age, but the question of longevity cannot simply be ignored.

??⚽️ Nouveau selectionneur du Congo Brazzaville, Claude Le Roy veut faire de Dylan Bakwa et Bradley Locko ses priorités ?#Brazzaville #LeRoy #Congo ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/PKkfMq22kh

— Jenovic Mbowa (@jenovicmbowa1) June 22, 2026

Le Roy will not be working alone. Omar Daf, recently out of contract at Amiens after managing Sochaux and Dijon in Ligue 2, takes the role of assistant. The 49-year-old former Senegal international, capped 89 times, brings his own knowledge of African and European football and may in practice operate in something close to a head-coach capacity, with Le Roy fulfilling more of a traditional overarching manager's role from a slight distance. His familiarity with the European game will be particularly valuable in managing the dual-national contingent.

The most immediate need, however, is not tactical. It is political. Before any project can take shape, the various factions within Congolese football need to be brought back to the same table, institutional stability needs to be restored and the best players need to be convinced that pulling on the red jersey is worth their while.

The group for AFCON qualification will test all of that. The Red Devils face Cameroon, Namibia and the Comoros — with the latter two having made a habit of reaching recent tournaments. Nothing about this will be straightforward.

Across the river, the Leopards are showing the world what a successful rebuild looks like at a World Cup. In Brazzaville, the hope is that the same path is still open. But a change of coach, on its own, has never been enough.