DR Congo's Congo manager Sebastien Desabre led the Leopards into the Round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup for the first time in history. The finish ended a 52-year absence from the tournament and gave the side its best-ever World Cup showing.
That breakthrough came after Group K produced a 1-1 draw with Portugal, a 1-0 loss to Colombia and a 3-1 win over Uzbekistan. The victory over Uzbekistan was DR Congo's first World Cup win and the first points it had ever collected at the tournament.
Group K changed the record
Three group-stage matches were enough to rewrite the country's World Cup line. DR Congo earned the draw against Portugal, then dropped the result against Colombia, before turning the final game into a 3-1 win that pushed it through to the Round of 32.
Before 2026, the record book stopped at 1974. That was the country's only previous World Cup appearance, when it played as Zaire and became the first sub-Saharan African nation to qualify for the FIFA World Cup.
Zaire's 1974 burden
Zaire lost all three group-stage matches in 1974 without scoring. The defeats came against Scotland, Brazil and Yugoslavia, and the last of those ended 9-0.
One image from that tournament still defines the era: Ilunga Mwepu ran out of the defensive wall and kicked the ball away during Brazil's free-kick attempt. Sport later reported that the incident was tied to deeper issues around the team.
From 1974 to 2026
The contrast is stark. The team that once went through 1974 without a goal and with three defeats later returned after a 52-year absence and finished in the knockout rounds for the first time.
For DR Congo, the practical result is simple: the country no longer sits on a World Cup record that began and ended with Zaire. The 2026 campaign changed that line, and the Round of 32 now stands as the new marker in its history.
