Sébastien Desabre

Sébastien Desabre is the head coach of DR Congo at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, ending the country's 52-year wait to return to football's biggest stage. Born in Valence on 2 August 1976, he never played the professional game; he is one of a French school of pure coaches who built their reputations almost entirely outside Europe, on African touchlines and in African dressing rooms.

His CV is a tour of the continent's most demanding club jobs: ASEC Mimosas in Abidjan, Espérance de Tunis (always under pressure), Coton Sport, Ismaily SC in Egypt, Recreativo do Libolo in Angola, Pyramids FC, JS Saoura in Algeria and Wydad Casablanca. As national-team coach he took over Uganda from late 2017 to mid-2019, qualifying the Cranes for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations and pushing them out of the group stage for only the second time in their history. After a short return to France with Chamois Niortais he was appointed DR Congo head coach in August 2022 on a four-year contract built around one explicit goal: a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

He overdelivered. The Leopards reached the AFCON 2023 semi-finals in Ivory Coast, eventually finishing fourth, and then topped a difficult CAF qualifying group. DR Congo are placed in Group K with Portugal, Colombia and Uzbekistan — one of the toughest pools of the tournament. Around Cédric Bakambu, Fiston Mayele, Arthur Masuaku and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, Desabre's task is to make the Leopards' first appearance in 52 years feel like a starting point, not a finish line.