Kinshasa 2026 – How football explains Kinshasa

April 1, 2026, jubilant Kinois took to the streets to celebrate the Leopards’ victory over Jamaica in Mexico the night before, qualifying the national football team for the FIFA World Cup for the first time in 52 years. June 17, the Leopards will meet Portugal in Houston, Texas. Subsequent matches will pit the team against Colombia and Uzbekistan. 

 

The outbreak of the Ebola virus in northeastern Congo in May and the United States’ imposition of travel restrictions on non-US citizens from Congo and other affected countries on May 18 put the Leopards’ participation in the World Cup in jeopardy. Though none of the team, who play professionally in Europe and elsewhere, reside in Congo, the team cancelled plans for pre-tournament training in Kinshasa and team staff left Congo on May 20, which will allow them to complete a minimum 21-day stay in Europe before travelling to the US for the games. Congolese fans who purchased tickets may not be able meet these requirements.

The Leopards roll through Kinshasa April 5, 2026 (Ph. Agence Congolaise de Presse)

Football has captivated denizens of Kinshasa for over a century. It was first introduced by European residents around 1912 as a late Sunday afternoon recreation, between teams of employees of local businesses. Notably, early teams included the Nomades (British Lever Brothers) and Amicale Portugaise (Portuguese traders). They played on open ground in front of the recently constructed Ste. Anne Church where the Portuguese and United States Embassies stand today.

The football pitch in front of Ste. Anne (Ph. author coll.)

In September 1917 a young priest, Raphael de la Kethulle de Ryhove, arrived at Ste. Anne Parish, assigned to St. Joseph School. He immediately began organizing after school football games for the students, leading to the formation of the Association Sportif Congolaise the following year. Early matches, played on the pitch in front of Ste. Anne, drew players from a “selection” available on that day (Oct. 8, 2017).

Sunday at the Ste. Anne pitch (Ph. author coll.)

The Scheut mission decided to establish a new parish called St. Pierre south of Ste. Anne. As Kinshasa became more segregated, the Ste. Anne mission was now located in the European town. Raphael established a playing field with students at St. Pierre in 1931. The following year, the cornerstone for St. Pierre church was laid next to this football field on Ave. Prince Baudouin. In 1935, Father Raphael created a swimming pool by damming the nearby Funa River. The same year, Raphael founded two teams of graduates from Ste. Anne and St. Pierre schools. The first was named Renaissance (now Vita Club). In February the following year he formed Daring Faucon (now Daring Club Motema Pembe - DCMP). 

 In Kintambo to the west of the growing city, Frère Herman (Auguste Driesen) of the Frères des Ecoles Chrétiennes was building a stadium with raised earth sides, surrounding an oval bicycle track with a football pitch in the center. The Velodrome, as it came to be known (Feb. 12, 2012), was inaugurated in October 1936, attended by Vice Governor General Ermens, Provincial Governor de Beauffort, Msgr. Dellepiane (the Vatican envoy), and Colonel Hennequin (Force Publique commander). Import-Export firm Interfina offered a cup for a match played by the Amicale Portugaise and a selection of European Leopoldville and Brazzaville players. Following Father Raphael’s lead, the Brothers formed F.C. Dragons (now Bilima) in 1938.

The Velodrome with St. Francois church beyond (Ph. Liberas)

The football team in Leopoldville-Ouest (Ph. author coll.)

On a Sunday afternoon at the end of June 1937, Governor General Ryckmans inaugurated Father Raphael’s latest initiative to promote sports among the Congolese population of Leopoldville. Stade Reine Astrid, an Art Deco complex named for the late wife of King Leopold III, could accommodate 20,000 spectators. The facility was handed over to Raphael’s Association Sportive Congolaise. For the next 15 years, this was Kinshasa’s premier sports venue, and rendezvous for other community events. Both European and Congolese teams played here, though the Congolese teams drew the earlier (and hotter) 15:45 slot, in deference to European games beginning at 17:00. The abbreviated playing time was a concession to hot weather.

Stade Astrid and St. Pierre church (Ph. liberas)

Artist depiction of Stade Astrid (Ph. author coll)

During the Second World War, Tata Raphael (Father in Kikongo) conceived an omnisports complex, including football fields, basketball and tennis courts and an Olympic-size swimming pool. The earlier swimming pool on the Funa River was filled in by the US Army in 1942 to expand Ndolo airport (May 23, 2011), but a substantial indemnity payment helped fund the new complex. The Parc Sports General Ermens was completed in 1946 (May 30, 2021).

Parc Sports General Ermens in 1953 (Ph. liberas)

Tata Raphael was still thinking big. Leopoldville had grown exponentially during the War and he felt Stade Reine Astrid was too small to accommodate the increasing number of spectators. To ensure others would see his point, he gave out free tickets to boost crowd size at the Sunday football matches. Construction of the new complex on Ave General Ermens (now Sendwe) east of Parc Sports Ermens began in 1948 with financial support from the colonial government and the local business community, including Tata Raphael’s patron, Joseph Rhodius (Feb. 27, 2020). When completed in 1952, Stade Roi Baudouin was the largest football stadium in all of Africa, with seating for 70,000 spectators. Not everyone was enthusiastic about the new edifice. “L’Avenir colonial belge” queried why the great expenditure had not been used to build ten smaller stadiums around the city so twenty teams could play instead of two. When asked about his “building mania”, the priest replied, “I didn’t come to Congo to play sports”. 

 

Two years after Stade Baudouin was completed, Tata Raphael became ill and returned to Belgium for treatment. He died in June 1956, but the Scheut alumni association appealed to have his body returned to Congo. He was buried in “his” stadium.

Stade Roi Baudouin shortly after completion (Ph. author coll.)

The entrance to the stadium (Ph. author coll.)

A bust of Tata Raphael outside the stadium in 2007 (Ph. picasa)

These two public facilities, as well as the Funa Club, also helped to establish the second “Neutral Zone” (July 31, 2011), which included Ndolo Airport, the BEAM field of radio antennas and the Force Publique Camp Leopold II (now Camp Kokolo).

In the 1950s, the main football teams in the capital were Daring Faucon, Victoria Club (Vita) and Dragons. A first formulation of a “national” team was developed in 1956 comprising a selection of players called the “Lions”. The team toured Belgium and on its return, a few Belgian teams recruited Congolese players. On June 16, 1957 the Congolese hosted Belgian Union St. Gilloise in Leopoldville. Questionable calls by the referee, affecting both sides, raised tensions in the stadium. When St. Gilloise beat the Congolese team, who had been leading at half-time, with a score 4-2, Congolese spectators left the stadium expressing racist criticism of the Belgians, including, 

     “Vous n'êtes pas chez vous. Retournez en Belgique. Bientôt le Congo sonnera pour vous”, 

 and damaging over 40 European-owned vehicles in the parking lot. Observers credit this incident as the prelude to the riots in 1959 which led to Independence in 1960.

Stade Baudouin June 16, 1957 (Ph. akg-images)

On January 4th, a match between Vita Club and Mikado (sponsored by Sabena) was decided 0-3 in favor of the latter. Coincidently, as disgruntled fans left Stade Baudouin, some passed the nearby YMCA on Ave. Baudouin where a planned rally by ABAKO had been denied. The presence of police outside the center ignited the frustration of the Congolese that day (Jan. 13, 2019). Within two weeks, King Baudouin announced eventual independence for the colony.

The crowd gathered at the YMCA (Ph. rtbf.be)

Mobutu’s coup November 24, 1965 brought more active involvement of the state in the sports scene. Mobutu was in fact, a football fan, and covered sports as a young journalist for “L’Avenir colonial belge” before independence. He supported Vita Club and continued to do so throughout his life. In contrast, Mama Mobutu, favored Daring (DCMP) and it is said, the couple engaged in spirited discussions at home after matches. 

 

The new President considered football a means to unite a country wracked by five years of secession, rebellion, ethnic conflict and economic decline. At the same time, inviting other international teams to play “friendly” matches in Kinshasa would demonstrate to the world that the “troubled” Congo had turned the corner. An early example was a three-way friendly in January 1966 between the “Lions” of Congo, the Diables Rouges of Brazzaville and Black Stars of Ghana. The Black Stars beat the Congolese 3-0, but to add insult to injury, as the game was ending, a Ghanaian winger executed a series of fancy dribbles ending in front of the President’s box. He stood up on the ball and gave Mobutu a snappy military salute.

President Mobutu and Leopards (Ph. author coll.)

Mobutu was so incensed, he immediately recalled all Congolese players competing in Belgian teams to create a national team. In August, he introduced the “Leopards” to replace the “Lions” as the national team. In similar vein, shortly after Mobutu renamed Leopoldville and other provincial capitals as Kinshasa, Lubumbashi, Mbandaka, Kananga and Kisangani, in June 1966, he informed Tata Raphael’s older brother that he was planning to rename Stade Baudouin for Raphael. This lasted less than a year, when the stadium was again renamed “Stade du 20 Mai” to commemorate Mobutu’s creation of the state-party Mouvement Populaire de la Revolution (MPR). Stade Reine Astrid became “Stade du 24 Novembre”, the date of Mobutu’s coup. Football was fully integrated in service to Mobutu’s political vision for the country. In Addis-Ababa in January 1968, the Leopards beat Ghana’s Black Stars (1-0) to win their first African Cup.

Stade Tata Raphael during OAU meetings in September 1967 (Ph. author coll.)

The next development in Mobutu’s political project was the introduction of the “recours à l’authenticité” as national policy. For the Catholic Church, the policy extended to the suppression of Christian names and holidays and the introduction of the youth wing of the political party, the JMPR, into the schools. In a pastoral letter, Cardinal Malula cautioned that worldly leaders should “not play with that which is God’s”. Infuriated, Mobutu called the Cardinal a traitor, ordered him to vacate his residence on Ave. Sendwe within 48 hours and suspended Catholic media outlets. To de-escalate the conflict, the Vatican called Malula to Rome. Mobutu pardoned the Cardinal four months later, allowing him to return to Kinshasa, but his residence, adjacent Stade du 20 Mai, had now become the headquarters of the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Cardinal Malula and President Mobutu (Ph. facebook)

December 9, 1973 in Stade du 20 Mai, the Leopards defeated Morocco 3-0 to qualify for the FIFA World Cup in Germany the following June. The Leopards were the first Sub-Saharan African team to qualify for the World Cup finals. An elated President Mobutu gave each player a VW Beetle and a house in the new Cité Salongo social housing development in Lemba Commune. He also ordered a set of postage stamps depicting a Leopard controlling a football on top of the globe, which came out July 5, during the games in Munich.

President Mobutu and Leopards with VW Beetles (Ph. facefook)

(Ph. instagram)

Notwithstanding a creditable performance on the field, the Leopards lost their first match in Munich to Scotland (2-0). Mobutu is alleged to have told the team if they lost 4-0 to Brazil, they could not return home. The team managed to maintain their loss at 3-0. When the Minister of Sports told them the prize money would be sent directly to Kinshasa, the players realized they would never see it and refused to play the third match against Yugoslavia. Again, this was followed by a threatening call from Kinshasa. The team played the game, but were so demotivated they lost 9-0. 

 

Munich: Brasil's winning goal (Ph. Wikipedia)

When they returned to Kinshasa, an army truck was waiting for them rather than a luxury coach. They were taken directly to Mobutu’s residence at Camp Tshatshi and berated for the loss. The President threatened to throw them in jail if it happened again. Almost as bad, the players were not allowed to ever leave the country where they could have played professionally for European teams. Three months later, Mobutu hosted the Ali-Foreman boxing match in Stade du 20 Mai (June 4, 2016). Four of the pitches surrounding the stadium used by local teams were paved over for parking lots. It seems the President had moved on.

Stade du 20 Mai under preparation of the Ali-Foreman match (Ph. flashbak.com)

President Mobutu presents George Foreman and Muhammad Ali in Stade 20 Mai (Ph. author coll.)

Two years later Zaire and the People’s Republic of China signed an agreement to build a new stadium – reportedly twice the size of Stade du 20 Mai. The stadium would be named “Kamanyola”, commemorating another of Mobutu’s accomplishments; stopping the rebel advance on Bukavu in June 1964. The facility would be built on a 19-hectare site to the west in the “Second Neutral Zone” on which the Belgians had built the “Population Noire” administration building and the Cultrana cultural center (Sep. 12, 2011). The city no longer needed a segregated administrative management system, but the Cultrana was a major venue for cultural productions which also housed the Ministry of Culture and the Institut National des Arts.

The Service de la Population Noire became the Administrative Secretariat
of the Ministry of Sports. Note Stade des Martyrs upper right (Ph. Wikinshasa)

Construction finally began October 14, 1988, coinciding with Mobutu’s 58th birthday and completed five years later on his 63rd birthday. Built by a Chinese consortium at a cost of $52 million (of which China provided $38 million), the stadium had a seating capacity of 80,000 spectators. It was officially inaugurated on September 14, 1994, featuring a friendly match between the Leopards and the Malawian national team.

Stade des Martyrs - 2002 (Ph. author)

After Mobutu’s overthrow in May 1997, the Kabila government renamed the facility “Stade des Martyrs du Pentecote”, commemorating the four ministers hanged on the public square in front of the Cultrana in June 1966 for allegedly plotting against the new regime. Stade du 20 Mai was re-renamed Stade Tata Raphael and Stade du 24 Novembre became Stade Cardinal Malula, fifty-one years after the young priest was ordained there in June 1946.

The Cultrana June 2, 1966. Gallows erected at left of building (Ph. imago)

Stade Tata Raphael was the subject of a proposed substantial make-over submitted by the Italian firm Koba-Engineering in April 2006. I have not yet found evidence of a call for proposals, but the glossy, detailed 38-page submission suggests the proposal did not come out of nowhere. It included rehabilitation of the main stadium, addition of a football training center, a multi-sports facility, an Olympic swimming pool, restaurants and a hotel complex. Nothing came of the proposal, but investments for the 2023 9th Francophonie games added an 18-unit athletes’ village (who were ultimately transferred to Unikin dorms) and a Gymnasium for indoor sports such as table tennis.

Architect's rendering of renovated Stade Tata Raphael complex (Ph. kobaengineering)

Stade Tata Raphael 2024. Gymnasium upper center, dorms upper right (Ph. Infos.cd)

In 2015, the Matata Ponyo government announced construction of four municipal stadiums around the city which could be used by second tier football clubs and local youth groups. August 2, 2016, Minister of Sports Denis Kambayi inaugurated new stadiums in Barumbu, Matete and Ngaliema Communes, named respectively “Bonga-Bonga” (who played for Daring and one of the first Congolese invited to play in Belgium in the late ‘50s), Kembo Uba Kembo (a member of the 1974 Leopards) and “Santos” Mutubile (a former Bilima player who managed the Leopards). A fourth stadium in Bandalungwa was not completed due to lack of funds. As recently as June 2024, the facilities had not been turned over to the government due to substantial unpaid claims by the contractors.

Stade Bonga Bonga in Barumbu (Ph. Leopardsfoot.com)

At the same time, maintaining the three “national” stadiums to national and international standards has proved a challenge for authorities, resulting in a pattern of severe deterioration, major reinvestment and cost overruns. In 2008, FIFA decertified Stade des Martyrs for the World Cup qualifiers. Despite spending over $6 million on renovations to the facility, private contractors lagged behind and the Kabila government had to bring in military engineers to complete the work on time. Under the Tshisekedi government, the Stadium has been under a near constant series of rehabilitation work, including additional investment in 2023 to ready Stade des Martyrs and Stade Tata Raphael for the 9th Francophonie Games.

Stade Tata Raphael gymnasium (Ph. 7Sur7.cd)

In June 2023, DCMP announced it would invest $2.7 million to rehabilitate Stade Cardinal Malula for its own use after securing a ten-year lease from the Hotel de Ville. At the same time, rival Vita Club claimed it had a contract with the municipality to renovate the stadium. DCMP prevailed and by January 2025, the stadium with artificial turf and new seating, was available for the Club’s use.

Stade Cardinal Malula in 2017 (Ph. author)

Stade Cardinal Malula in 2023 before rehabilitation (Ph. infosportrdc)

Stade Cardinal Malula in 2024 at the start of rehabilitation (Ph. tp-imana.org)

Other informal football playing fields, known as “Terrains” are chronically under threat. These are open spaces along roadways or abandoned industrial properties. There may be goal posts on the sandy pitch, but spectator accommodation is “standing room only”. In September 2014, EUFKIN-Plateau called on Hotel de Ville to stop construction on the terrain known as “Sadelmi II” in Masina, which had been sold by “unknowns”. Sadelmi was a contractor of the Inga-Shaba project in the 1970-80s. Sadelmi II was granted to the youth of Masina after a local Chief sold Sadelmi I to a church group in the 1990s. In March 2023, the Sadelmi site was put back on the City’s radar when FC Patronage complained about mountains of trash dumped on the field when the municipality launched a trash clean up of Blvd. Lumumba.

Terrain Assosa in Commune Kasa-Vubu. Former player Tshick Ngela is concerned
paving Ave. Assosa will take out the pitch (Ph. congoprofond.cd)

Terrain "Lubumbashi" in Kintambo allegedly sold by the Lubudi Chef de Quartier (Ph. infos.cd)

While successive governments since Mobutu have sought to use football to reinforce their power and promote national unity, citizens find the sport gives them a cover to express opposition not otherwise permitted. In December 2016, Minister of Sports Kambayi suspended games between Vita and Daring in Kinshasa and TP Mazembe and Lupopo in Lubumbashi, citing lack of sporting civism and failure of the teams to adhere to revenue sharing policies. This was days before President Kabila’s second and final term was to end December 19, 2016. In the relative anonymity of the packed stadium, attendees could call out “Kabila yebela mandat esili” (watch out Kabila, your mandate is over). Taking the football metaphor further, in October, the opposition issued Kabila a “Yellow” card. If he did not step down by December 19, the President would receive a “Red” card.

Football patron displays "red" card (dw.com)

At the beginning of 2026, Stade des Martyrs was closed by the CAF, citing deficiencies that did not meet international norms. Stade Tata Raphael was closed the previous month by the Minister of Sports, Didier Budimbu, for damages caused by sports fans which the teams didn’t pay to repair. He instituted new contracts binding the clubs for liability for damages. 

President Tshisekedi appears to have learned either everything or nothing from Mobutu. From sporting a leopard print shirt to welcome the team, to giving each member a luxurious Toyota SUV and houses. Or, perhaps just a case of “plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose”.

President Tshisekedi welcomes the Leopards (Ph. africatopsports)

Sources: 

• Kabala Muana Mbuyi Muadianvita, Pierre Celestin, 2023. Cent ans des sports en république démocratique du Congo: Pour quel devenir dans la société ? Tome 1, Books on Demand. 
• Ngabanzo La Mangale, Max & Jean-Chretien Ekambo Ndundu, 2024. Les Léopards au sommet du football africain, Eds. Harmattan. 
• Tamba Nlandu, 2022. “Football in DR Congo: A Critical Account of ‘Congolese Football’”, Faculty Bibliography, John Carroll University. 
• Van Peel, Benedicte. 2001. “Au Debuts du Football Congolais », in Vellut, Jean-Luc, 2001. Itinéraires croisés de la modernité: Congo belge, 1920-1950, Institut Africain CEDAF, pp.141-88.