Houston Congolese community rallies behind historic World Cup return

For more than half a century, the Democratic Republic of Congo’s national football team existed only in the collective memory of those old enough to recall their last World Cup appearance in 1974. In June, Houston will be the city that changes all of that.

Les Léopards, as the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) national team is known, are set to arrive in Houston around June 10, establishing their official World Cup base camp at the former SaberCats Stadium, temporarily renamed the Houston Training Centre for the tournament. 

Their long-awaited return to the world’s biggest sporting stage begins June 17 at NRG Stadium when they face Portugal in their Group K opener. It marks the country’s first World Cup appearance in 52 years, and Houston’s Congolese diaspora community has been organizing for months to ensure the team arrives at something that feels like home.

“It’s a great source of pride for me as a Congolese,” said Marcus Mpwo, coordinator of the World Cup Special Commission Houston, a grassroots organization formed specifically to coordinate local support around the team’s arrival. “It shows that with hard work and dedication, anything is possible.”

The road back to the World Cup was anything but easy. DRC, then known as Zaire, made history in 1974 as the first sub-Saharan African team to compete on soccer’s global stage. The squad lost all three group-stage matches, conceding 14 goals without scoring once. The 2026 return was secured with a dramatic run through the African continental play-offs, which included victories over Cameroon and Nigeria, followed by a 1-0 extra-time win over Jamaica in an intercontinental playoff in Guadalajara, Mexico, in March.

Mpwo has been part of Houston’s Congolese community for more than 20 years. He said the organizing energy surrounding this World Cup is unlike anything the community has produced in that time.

“I’ve never seen anything that even comes close in terms of bringing the community together. We have different languages, different dialects, different tribes in Congo, and you’ll find that same kind of division here,” he said. “But with the World Cup, this is bringing all of these groups together. It’s really amazing what sports can do to break the divisions and bring people together.”

The group recently met with the Chief of Staff of DR Congo’s Ministry of Tourism, signaling the national government’s serious treatment of the diaspora’s role in this historic moment. A special church service, organized by a coalition of Congolese pastors in Houston, is also planned for June 14, with the Congolese ambassador expected in attendance.

Tshiunza Kalubi is a community member who has lived in Houston for five years. He said this World Cup has introduced him to Congolese neighbors he had never met.

“This is really the first time that I’ve gotten to know a lot of the community,” Kalubi said. “Sport is bringing us together, regardless of your tribe, regardless of your class.”

He pointed to a telling moment at a recent community meeting held at NRG Stadium, jerseys on, flags in hand, when a man approached him, noting they had seen each other at three straight gatherings without ever formally meeting. “Imagine,” the man told him. It was a small exchange, Kalubi acknowledged, but one that said something much larger about what this moment is doing to a community that has long remained dispersed across Houston’s southwest corridor.

The weight of this World Cup extends well beyond the pitch. Kalubi sees Les Léopards’ presence in Houston as a rare and consequential platform.

“Everything out of Congo, news-wise, has just been bad for a long time. This is really the first time, probably in a generation, that Congo has had any sort of positive headline associated with it. My mom’s generation had Muhammad Ali and George Foreman,” Kalubi said. “They had the Rumble in the Jungle. They had a World Cup team that same year. And so for this generation, this is the first time that we’ve been able to be on the world stage.”

Houston’s Congolese diaspora is largely concentrated in the city’s southwest corridor, along Highway 6, Bissonnet, Beechnut, Bel Air, and West Belfort, with significant communities also in Sugar Land, Katy, and Richmond.

The community has also widened its net beyond Houston’s city limits, coordinating with Congolese diaspora groups in Dallas and San Antonio to ensure that visitors traveling in for the matches feel welcome.

“For us, the message is basically for them to just play their game, to play the best that they can, and know that we as a community are behind them,” he said. “We actually are expecting them to do more, because we know they’re capable. They’ve shown it before, they’ve beaten the giants.”

DRC will face Colombia, Portugal, and Uzbekistan in Group K, with all group-stage matches tied to their Houston base before any potential advancement into the knockout rounds.

“We’re going to party hard,” Kalubi said. “We invite the rest of Houston to come celebrate with us. Win or lose.”