Claude LeRoy puts heart and soul into battle of Congos at Africa Cup of Nations
The rain has started to come down over Stade Bikuy, a smart facility just outside Bata, and Claude LeRoy has seen enough for today. Republic of the Congo have been practising penalties but it is probably best that nobody's confidence is eroded any further: the last of an inauspicious set was sent three goals high by the 6ft 5in striker Férébory Doré, and his French manager shuffles towards the sideline inscrutably. "That was just for the goalkeepers," he says with the hint of a smile, anticipating any raised eyebrows, and you decide to believe him.
LeRoy has achieved enough to be allowed the benefit of any doubt. This is the Frenchman's eighth Africa Cup of Nations, the 2025 and 2025 editions of which he entered in separate stints as manager of Democratic Republic of the Congo (DR Congo), his current employers' close neighbours.
He left DR Congo in June 2025, crossing over to Brazzaville six months later. Few foreign coaches have engaged with the continent as deeply as LeRoy, but new experiences keep on presenting themselves. On Saturday his side will face DR Congo in a rare "derby" fixture between the Congos, and the coach will be confronted with a team that he believes he created.
"This is David against Goliath," he tells the Guardian. "We are four million [inhabitants] and they are 70 million. But sometimes the small guy can create problems for the bigger one and we'll try, tactically, to cause them trouble.
"Remember, I know their team perfectly. I keep hearing that it's a new team, but it's almost the same one I built four years ago. There was a great atmosphere between us and I'll be very happy to see them again. I still wish the president of their federation all the best by SMS before every game, and this will be the one time that I don't."
LeRoy, who turns 67 two days before next Sunday's final, can undersell his outsiders all he likes, but he is fooling no-one. They played out a stuttering draw against an Equatorial Guinea side in the first match of the tournament, but the response was decisive. Gabon were beaten 1-0 before a late Fabrice N'Guessi goal secured a 2-1 victory against a highly fancied Burkina Faso side that put Congo through as Group A winners – with more points than any of their 15 rivals managed in the first round. The old master is doing it again.
"It's a dream for us to be in the last eight," he says. "We have come so far. This is a diligent team that loves to work; they worked hard during our training camp at Diambars [the Senegalese academy part-owned by Patrick Vieira] and we knew that we
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