Pirates’ slayers Saint-Eloi Lupopo in DRC league winning start

Five days after upsetting Orlando Pirates FC, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s FC Saint-Eloi Lupopo made a winning return back home.

Coach Guy Bukasa’s side launched their 2025-2026 Linafoot Ligue1 campaign with a 1-0 victory over Cercle Sportif Manika at the Dominique Diur Stadium on Thursday.

Lupopo were so preoccupied with the CAF Champions League second preliminary round two-legged matches against the Buccaneers. Little wonder, they were exempted from the DRC league’s opening fixtures on October 22, 2025.

Now, after dumping Pirates out of the Champions League with a 5-4 victory on post-match penalties following a three-all tie over the two legs, the Congolese side switched to the domestic business.

Did Mukoko feature for Lupopo in a DRC league match?

While Bukasa banked on the lion-hearted fighting spirit of defender Dieumerci Mukoko to rally the rest of Lupopo players into a fight in South Africa on Saturday, on Thursday the inspiration came from another source.

Striker Wanet Kashala, opening goal scorer in the 3-0 victory over Pirates in the Champions League first leg, struck again for Lupopo in the A stream match of Ligue 1 on Thursday. Bukasa made six changes to the starting XI that overcame Pirates.

Overall, AS Malole lead the log table A with six points from two games followed by TP Mazembe, Lupopo, Tshika, US Panda B52 all on three points.

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