Congo appoints Claude Le Roy as coach ahead of the AFCON qualifiers

Claude Le Roy, 78, has been appointed the new coach of the Republic of Congo, the federation announced on Monday, with the task of taking the team, which failed to qualify for the World Cup, to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

It will be his first role as head coach since leaving Togo in 2021.

“The meeting room of the Ministry of Sports hosted the official ceremony for the signing of Claude Le Roy’s contract as sports advisor and national coach of the Red Devils,” the Congolese Football Federation wrote on its social media accounts.

In Africa, the much-traveled Frenchman has led Cameroon and DR Congo twice each, as well as Senegal, Ghana and Togo. It will be a second period in which he is in charge of Congo, which he coached from 2013 to 2015.

Under the “White Wizard”, the Red Devils reached the quarter-finals of AFCON 2015, their best result in the competition since 1974.

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Le Roy, who won AFCON with Cameroon in 1988, is not the oldest current international coach. Dick Advocaat, responsible for Curaçao at the World Cup, is five months older.

Former Senegalese international defender Omar Daf will work as Le Roy’s assistant.

Congo is aiming for a first AFCON qualification since 2015, after missing the last five editions.

The qualifying group for the 2027 tournament, which will be held in Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, includes Cameroon, Comoros and Namibia.

Published on June 22, 2026