Ngal’ayel Mukau: ‘DR Congo will qualify for World Cup’

LOSC Lille FC Congolese midfielder Ngal’ayel Mukau says he has no iota of doubt that the Leopards will qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup finals.

The France-based player spoke about the Leopards’ World Cup chances in an interview with the Ligue 1 team’s media.

The DRC are smarting from the disappointment of having exited the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Morocco. A 1-0 loss to Algeria in the Round-of-16 sent Sébastien Desabre out of the tournament.

The premature exit from the continental tournament seemed to cast doubt on the pedigree of the DRC ahead of the intercontinental play offs. The Leopards last qualified for the World Cup in 1974.

However, Mukau while reflecting on the AFCON heartbreak, insisted that they will bounce back and book the ticket to the World Cup finals which the United States, Mexico and Canada will host from 11 June to July 19 2026.

“We are going to qualify for the World Cup, we are going to do it,” the 21-year-old stressed as quoted by Footrdc.

What Mukau learnt from AFCON

Mukau added he personally learnt a lot from the participation in the AFCON finals saying it offered him a platform to showcase his talent.

“I’m happy to have been able to experience my first AFCON with the national team. I got some playing time and it allowed me to show the Congolese what I can do. The AFCON was a very good experience for me,” he said.

The DRC drew one-all with Senegal, beat Botswana 3-0 and Benin 1-0 to qualify for the Round-of-16 from Group D.

The DRC (60th) and Iraq (57th), the highest ranked in the FIFA rankings among the six participants in this play-off tournament, will fight for the last two tickets.

The four lowest-ranked teams in the FIFA world rankings, Jamaica (68th), Bolivia (76th), Suriname (126th) and New Caledonia (150th), will face each other in the semi-finals.

The inter-confederation play-offs will take place on 26 and 31 March 2026.