Kinshasa, October 9th, 2025 (CPA) – Togo and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have announced that they will play each other on Friday at the Kegue stadium in Lome, Togo, on the 9th day of group B of the African zone qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup. In anticipation of this encounter, the Leopards of DRC, who have set up their headquarters in Abidjan in the Ivory Coast, have travelled to the Togolese capital on Wednesday, with a final training session scheduled for Thursday, at the time of the match, namely 13:00 GMT, 14:00, Kinshasa time, the capital of DRC. Before this match, the Leopards of DRC are ranked 2nd with 16 points from 8 matches, while the Sparrowhawks of Togo (4th) have 7 points from as many matches played, with no mathematical claim to qualification in this group B, where the Lions of Teranga of Senegal, masters of their own destiny, are in pole position with two points more than the Fauves of DRC, followed by the Crocodiles of Sudan, credited with 12 points after 8 matches. At the bottom are Mauritania’s Murabitounes (6 points, 5th) and Bright Stars of South Sudan (4 points, 6th). With this position in mind, DRC, whose qualification will be at the end of the play-offs looming on the horizon, are aiming to win while improving their status as 2nd-placed team, in order to better position themselves among the other candidates for these play-offs, where other candidates are pressing for a place.
Matchday 9: October 6th-14th, 2025: South Sudan-Senegal, Togo-DRC and Sudan-Mauritania
Matchday 10: October 6th-14th, 2025: DRC-Sudan, South Sudan-Togo and Senegal-Mauritania.