MATCH STATS: Democratic Republic of Congo vs Benin – TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 – Group D

Democratic Republic of Congo and Benin will meet at the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations for the first time when they clash in Group D on Tuesday in Rabat. Kick-off is at 13h30 local time (12h30 GMT).

Overall, the two nations will meet for a third time. Their two previous meetings came during qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The first clash, played on 6 September 2021 with Benin as hosts, ended in a 1-1 draw.

DR Congo took the lead in the 12th minute through Dieumerci Mbokani, before Jordan Adeoti equalised for Benin in the 33rd minute.

The return fixture was played on 14 November 2021, with DR Congo winning 2-0 at home.

Mbokani scored in the 10th minute, with Ben Malango adding a second goal in the 74th minute.

Head-to-Head Overall

·       DR Congo: P2 W1 D1 L0 GF3 GA1 GD+2

·       Benin: P2 W0 D1 L1 GF1 GA3 GD−2

 

DR Congo – Key Statistics

·       This will be DR Congo’s 81st match at the AFCON Finals.

·       They made their debut at the tournament in 1965 in Tunisia, where they were eliminated in the first round after defeats to Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire.

·       In 1968, DR Congo were crowned champions after defeating Ghana 1-0 in the final, with Pierre Kalala Mukendi scoring the winning goal in the 66th minute.

·       Kazadi Mwamba was named Player of the Tournament in 1968.

·       Since 1957, DR Congo have failed to qualify for the AFCON on 13 occasions.

·       They have qualified for six of the last seven finals, only missing out on the 2021 edition.

·       Ndaye Mulamba scored a record nine goals at the 1974 AFCON, the most by any player in a single edition.

·       The group stage is where they have exited the tournament most often, being eliminated seven times, followed by six quarter-final exits.

·       They have progressed beyond the group stage at the last four finals they have appeared in, finishing third in 2015, reaching the quarter-finals in 2017, the round of 16 in 2019, and ending fourth in 2023.

·       Their only group-stage elimination in the last six tournaments came in 2013.

·       DR Congo have won the AFCON twice, in 1968 and 1974, and also finished third in 1998 and 2015.

·       They qualified for eight successive AFCON tournaments between 1992 and 2006, before missing the 2008, 2010 and 2012 editions, and returning in 2013.

·       They were unbeaten in their opening matches at three consecutive AFCON tournaments in 2013, 2015 and 2017 (W1 D2), including a comeback from two goals down to draw 2-2 with Ghana in 2013.

·       They lost their opening match in 2019 against Uganda.

·       At the 2023 edition, they began with a 1-1 draw against Zambia.

·       DR Congo have lost more matches at AFCON than any other team (30 defeats in 80 matches).

·       Ten of their last 15 AFCON group matches have ended in a draw (W3 L2).

·       They have won at least one match at each of the last four tournaments they have appeared in, last failing to win a game in 2013.

·       All three of their group matches at the 2023 edition ended in draws.

·       Their only group-stage win in the last six group matches was a 4-0 victory over Zimbabwe in their final group game in 2019.

·       Across all rounds, they have just one win in open play in their last eight AFCON matches, a 3-1 quarter-final victory over Guinea in 2023.

·       They have failed to win their opening match at the last two editions, losing to Uganda in 2019 and drawing with Zambia in 2023.

·       Their last opening-match win came in 2017 with a 1-0 victory over Morocco.

·       At the 2023 edition, five of their seven matches ended in draws, with one win and one loss both coming on penalties.

·       DR Congo have reached the knockout stages in five of their last six AFCON participations, though their last final appearance was in 1974.

·       This is their second AFCON finals appearance hosted in Morocco, having previously featured in 1988.

·       In 1988, they drew 1-1 with hosts Morocco and Côte d’Ivoire before losing 1-0 to Algeria in their final group match.

·       They won their first four qualifying matches for this tournament, defeating Guinea at home, Ethiopia away, and Tanzania home and away.

·       They lost their final two qualifiers against Guinea and Ethiopia.

·       They scored six goals in qualifying, with six different goalscorers, Meshack Elia top scoring with two goals.

·       DR Congo kept four clean sheets in qualifying.

·       Henoc Inonga was the only player to feature in all six qualifying matches.

·       Under coach Sébastien Desabre, DR Congo have won their last five matches.

·       They have lost just one of their last 11 matches under Desabre, winning 10.

·       Desabre led DR Congo to the semi-finals at the 2023 edition and previously guided Uganda to the round of 16 in 2019.

 

Benin – Key Statistics

·       Benin are making their fifth appearance at the AFCON Finals.

·       They first qualified in 2004, returned in 2008 and 2010, and last featured in 2019.

·       This is their third AFCON finals appearance hosted in North Africa, having previously participated in Tunisia 2004 and Egypt 2019.

·       Benin are yet to win a match in open play at AFCON, across 14 previous games (D5 L9).

·       They were eliminated in the group stages in 2004, 2008 and 2010 before reaching the quarter-finals in 2019.

·       At the 2019 edition, they avoided defeat in all three group matches, drawing each game.

·       Benin’s opening-match record at AFCON reads P4 W0 D2 L2.

·       They lost their opening matches in 2004 (2-0 vs South Africa) and 2008 (1-0 vs Mali).

·       They drew their opening games 2-2 against Mozambique in 2010 and Ghana in 2019.

·       Benin lost their first six AFCON matches before avoiding defeat for the first time with a 2-2 draw against Mozambique in 2010.

·       At the 2019 edition, they drew all three group matches, defeated Morocco on penalties in the round of 16 after a 1-1 draw, and lost 1-0 to Senegal in the quarter-finals.

·       Benin coach Gernot Rohr is appearing at his fourth AFCON finals.

·       He previously led Nigeria in 2019, Niger in 2013, and Gabon in 2012.

·       Rohr’s best AFCON finish was third place with Nigeria in 2019.

·       He guided Gabon (2012) and Nigeria (2019) to the knockout rounds, while Niger were eliminated in the group stage in 2013.

·       Rohr’s only previous AFCON meeting with DR Congo came in the 2013 group stage, ending in a 0-0 draw with Niger.

·       Overall, Rohr has faced DR Congo three times and is unbeaten (W1 D2).

·       Benin qualified as runners-up in Group D behind Nigeria, finishing level on eight points with Rwanda but progressing on head-to-head record.

·       They began qualifying with a 3-0 away loss to Nigeria.

·       They followed with home wins over Libya (2-1) and Rwanda (3-0), before a 2-1 away loss to Rwanda.

·       Benin finished qualifying with a 1-1 home draw against Nigeria and a 0-0 away draw with Libya.

·       Stéphane Mounié and Andreas Hountondji were joint top scorers in qualifying, with two goals each.

·       Mounié, Marcel Dandjinou, Sessi D’Almeida, Imourane Hassane, Junior Olaïtan and Dodo Dokou all started every qualifying match.