| Central African Republic | |
| Badge: | Central Africa FA.png |
| Badge Size: | 160px |
| Nickname: | Les Fauves (The Wild Beasts) |
| Association: | Central African Football Federation |
| Confederation: | CAF (Africa) |
| Sub-Confederation: | UNIFFAC (Central Africa) |
| Coach: | Eloge Enza Yamissi |
| Captain: | Geoffrey Kondogbia |
| Most Caps: | Foxi Kéthévoama (48) |
| Top Scorer: | Louis Mafouta (16) |
| Home Stadium: | Barthélemy Boganda Stadium |
| Fifa Trigramme: | CTA |
| Fifa Max: | 49 |
| Fifa Max Date: | October 2012 |
| Fifa Min: | 202 |
| Fifa Min Date: | July–September 2009, March–August 2010 |
| Elo Max: | 79 |
| Elo Max Date: | 1956 |
| Elo Min: | 164 |
| Elo Min Date: | 2007–2009 |
| Pattern La1: | _macrontureis21rbw |
| Pattern B1: | _macrontureis21rbw |
| Pattern Ra1: | _macrontureis21rbw |
| Pattern Sh1: | _macrontempel1rbw |
| Leftarm1: | 9B0F00 |
| Body1: | 9B0F00 |
| Rightarm1: | 9B0F00 |
| Shorts1: | 9B0F00 |
| Socks1: | 0000FF |
| Pattern La2: | _macrontureis21wrb |
| Pattern B2: | _macrontureis21wrb |
| Pattern Ra2: | _macrontureis21wrb |
| Pattern Sh2: | _macrontempel1wrb |
| Leftarm2: | 0FA0B4 |
| Body2: | 0FA0B4 |
| Rightarm2: | 0FA0B4 |
| Shorts2: | FFFFFF |
| Socks2: | FFFFFF |
| First Game: | Ubangi-Shari 5–1 French Cameroon (Ubangi-Shari; unknown date 1956)[1] |
| Largest Win: | 6–0 (Colombo, Sri Lanka; 22 March 2024) |
| Regional Name: | Africa Cup of Nations |
The Central African Republic national football team (French: Équipe de République centrafricaine de football), nicknamed Les Fauves, is the national team of the Central African Republic and is controlled by the Central African Football Federation. They are a member of CAF. Despite being traditionally one of the weakest teams in Africa and the world, they recently achieved success. They won the 2009 CEMAC Cup by beating Gabon in the semi-finals and Equatorial Guinea in the final 3–0. Their FIFA ranking rose from 202nd in August 2010 to 89th by July 2011. On 10 October 2010, they earned a shock 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier win at home against Algeria 2–0, which put them top of their qualification group. The team won its first FIFA World Cup qualifier on 2 June 2012 after beating Botswana 2–0 at home.[2] [3]
The team made its debut under the name of Ubangi-Shari in 1956 against French Cameroon. The Central African Football Federation was founded in 1961 and joined FIFA in 1964 and CAF in 1965.
Their first competitive match was in the 1961 Friendship Games in Ivory Coast where Central African Republic drew twice against Upper Volta and Liberia before losing to the hosts and failing to progress to the next round.
Central African Republic entered the 1974 African Cup of Nations qualification for the first time, progressing due to Gabon's withdrawal but were then eliminated 5–4 on aggregate by Ivory Coast, a tie which saw the second leg abandoned at half-time after arguments between players of both sides, forcing a replay in Lagos which Ivory Coast won 5–1.
They took part in 1984 UDEAC Cup where they qualified to the knock-out rounds on goal-difference over Equatorial Guinea but were then heavily beaten by Cameroon 7–1 before beating Gabon on penalties to finish third. However in the 1988 UDEAC Cup, Gabon would get their revenge, beating Central African Republic in the semi-finals. The following year Central African Republic would host the 1989 UDEAC Cup, making it to the finals, beating Gabon on the way, before losing 2–1 to Cameroon.
During the 1990s, Central African Republic played very few international games, withdrawing from the 1996 African Cup of Nations qualification without playing a match. They returned to competition in the UNIFAC Cup in 1999, winning three times and losing twice to finish second.
Central African Republic participated in the 2002 World Cup qualifiers for the first time, losing in the first round to Zimbabwe. They reached the final of the inaugural CEMAC Cup, losing to an amateur Cameroon team that they'd drawn with a week earlier in the tournament.
In 2009, Central African Republic hosted the 2009 CEMAC Cup where they defeated Equatorial Guinea 3–0 in the final, with goals from Salif Kéïta and a brace from Hilaire Momi to claim their first trophy.
During the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, Central African Republic achieved a historic 2–0 home victory over the top seeded Algeria, a team that had recently competed at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. In July 2011, they climbed to 89th place in the FIFA world rankings, having occupied 202nd place as recently as August 2010.
On 2 June 2012, they obtained their first victory in World Cup qualification, beating Botswana 2–0 at home. Despite that positive result, Central African Republic finished bottom of their group. On 15 June 2012, despite being reduced to ten men, they achieved another impressive victory, beating Egypt 3–2 in the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, inflicting the first home defeat on the Egyptians in AFCON qualifiers since 1965. Thanks to a 1–1 draw at home in the second leg, Central African Republic eliminated the Egyptians, but in the second round they were defeated by Burkina Faso.
On 30 March 2021, in the last group stage match of the Africa Cup of Nations qualification, Central African Republic lost 1–0 at home against Mauritania to finish bottom of their group; hence, they missed the opportunity, had they won, to finish second which would have qualified them for the final tournament for the first time in their history.[4]
On 17 June 2023, Central African Republic needed a win at home against Angola on matchday 5 of the qualifications to secure their first ever participation in the Africa Cup of Nations;[5] however, the match ended in a 2–1 defeat and a drop to third place.[6] In the final group stage match, the national team lost 2–1 to Ghana, despite a 1–0 lead, which ended their last hope of qualification.[7]
In 2024, Central African Republic played their first ever tournament outside Africa where FIFA invited them to the 2024 FIFA Series matches on from 22 to 25 March 2024 held in Colombo in Sri Lanka where they would face Bhutan and Papua New Guinea.
The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.
Caretaker managers are listed in italics.
Jules Accorsi (2010–2012) Blaise Kopogo (2015)
François Zahoui (2019–2021)The following players were selected for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Lesotho and Gabon on 14 and 18 November 2024 respectively.[8]
Caps and goals as of 18 November 2024, after the match against Gabon.
The following players have also been called up to the Central African Republic squad within the last twelve months.
INJ Withdrew due to injury
PRE Preliminary squad
RET Retired from the national team
SUS Serving suspension
WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.
Players in bold are still active with Central African Republic.
| width=30px | Rank | Player | width=50px | Caps | width=50px | Goals | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 49 | 8 | 2002–2021 | ||||
| 2 | Geoffrey Lembet | 40 | 0 | 2010–present | |||
| 3 | 37 | 0 | 2010–2019 | ||||
| 4 | 36 | 2 | 2011–2018 | ||||
| 5 | 33 | 10 | 2007–2018 | ||||
| 33 | 0 | 2015–2022 | |||||
| Trésor Toropité | 33 | 6 | 2013–present | ||||
| 8 | 31 | 3 | 2007–2021 | ||||
| Sadock Ndobé | 31 | 0 | 2017–present | ||||
| 10 | 30 | 1 | 2010–2020 | ||||
| 30 | 5 | 2010–2020 | |||||
| Louis Mafouta | 30 | 16 | 2017–present | ||||
| width=30px | Rank | Player | width=50px | Goals | width=50px | Caps | width=50px | Ratio | Career |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Louis Mafouta | 16 | 30 | 2017–present | |||||
| 2 | 10 | 33 | 2007–2018 | ||||||
| 3 | 8 | 49 | 2002–2021 | ||||||
| 4 | Tresór Toropité | 6 | 33 | 2014–present | |||||
| 5 | 5 | 30 | 2010–2020 | ||||||
| 6 | 4 | 13 | 2013–2017 | ||||||
| Karl Namnganda | 4 | 25 | 2021–present | ||||||
| 4 | 27 | 2007–2021 | |||||||
| 9 | Tieri Godame | 3 | 6 | 2024–present | |||||
| Isaac Ngoma | 3 | 14 | 2021–present | ||||||
| Vénuste Baboula | 3 | 17 | 2023–present | ||||||
| Geoffrey Kondogbia | 3 | 20 | 2018–present | ||||||
| 3 | 31 | 2007–2021 | |||||||
| FIFA World Cup record | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | |||||||||||||
| 1930 to 1962 | Not a FIFA member | Not a FIFA member | |||||||||||||
| 1966 to 1974 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
 1978 | Withdrew | Withdrew | |||||||||||||
 1982 | Disqualified during qualifying | Disqualified during qualifying | |||||||||||||
| 1986 to 1998 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
| Did not qualify | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
 2006 | Withdrew | Withdrew | |||||||||||||
 2010 | |||||||||||||||
 2014 | Did not qualify | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 12 | ||||||||
| 2018 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |||||||||
 2022 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 9 | |||||||||
   2026 | To be determined | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 9 | ||||||||
| To be determined | |||||||||||||||
| Total | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 20 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 19 | 39 | ||
| Africa Cup of Nations record | Qualification record | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | |||||||||||||
 1957 | Part of France | Part of France | |||||||||||||
| 1959 | |||||||||||||||
 1962 | Not affiliated to CAF | Not affiliated to CAF | |||||||||||||
 1963 | |||||||||||||||
 1965 | |||||||||||||||
| 1968 | |||||||||||||||
| 1970 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
 1972 | |||||||||||||||
 1974 | Did not qualify | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||
| 1976 | Withdrew | Withdrew | |||||||||||||
| 1978 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
 1980 | |||||||||||||||
 1982 | |||||||||||||||
| 1984 | |||||||||||||||
| 1986 | |||||||||||||||
 1988 | Did not qualify | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||||||||
 1990 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
 1992 | |||||||||||||||
| 1994 | |||||||||||||||
| 1996 | Withdrew | Withdrew | |||||||||||||
 1998 | Disqualified | Disqualified | |||||||||||||
| 2000 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
 2002 | Did not qualify | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2004 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 9 | |||||||||
| 2006 | Withdrew | Withdrew | |||||||||||||
| 2008 | Did not enter | Did not enter | |||||||||||||
 2010 | Withdrew | Withdrew | |||||||||||||
  2012 | Did not qualify | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 2013 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | |||||||||
| 2015 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| 2017 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 11 | |||||||||
| 2019 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 8 | |||||||||
| 2021 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 11 | |||||||||
| 2023 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 7 | |||||||||
| 2025 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 14 | |||||||||
  2027 | To be determined | To be determined | |||||||||||||
| 2029 | |||||||||||||||
| Total | – | 0/35 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 54 | 13 | 13 | 28 | 53 | 90 | |
As of 18 November 2024 after match against [10]
| width=220 | Opponent | width=100 | Pld | width=70 | W | width=70 | D | width=70 | L | width=100 | GF | width=100 | GA | width=120 | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | |||||||||
| 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 8 | −3 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | |||||||||
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 9 | −5 | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | |||||||||
| 9 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 14 | 26 | −12 | |||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | |||||||||
| 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 10 | +3 | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | −2 | |||||||||
| 14 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 12 | 33 | −21 | |||||||||
| 9 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 30 | −22 | |||||||||
| 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 11 | −5 | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 3 | +1 | |||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | |||||||||
| 15 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 13 | 23 | −10 | |||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | |||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 7 | –2 | |||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | −2 | |||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | −2 | |||||||||
| 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 19 | −14 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | +1 | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | |||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 | −3 | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 7 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 8 | +6 | |||||||||
| 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 8 | −3 | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | |||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | |||||||||
| 7 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 19 | −18 | |||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −2 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | +2 | |||||||||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | |||||||||
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 10 | −6 | |||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | +4 | |||||||||
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | −3 | |||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | −5 | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||||||||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | |||||||||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | −3 | |||||||||
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | −3 | |||||||||
| Total | 146 | 33 | 29 | 86 | 165 | 288 | −123 |
End of each year only