DR Congo holds first training session in Houston at SaberCats Stadium

DR Congo is base camping during the 2026 FIFA World Cup group stage in Houston. The team will play its first match in the city Wednesday against Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal.

The team’s appearance in this World Cup is a proud moment for the nation, which has endured deadly clashes with militias, political violence and the ongoing Ebola outbreak.

“In spite of all the challenges that we’ve gone through, we are very resilient people, and this is what we want to show: our resilience and really our determination to make it and to make it big,” Kapinga Yvette Ngandu, the Democratic Republic of Congo ambassador to the U.S., told the Chronicle.

This is the first time since 1974 that the country, then known as Zaire, has appeared in the World Cup.

A highlight of practice included members of the team jogging circular laps on the field and receiving cheers from the fans when they passed in front of the stands where they had congregated. Following the hour-long light practice, the team went to the side of the field to greet them.

Houston is home to a sizable Congolese community that is overjoyed to have the national team based here.

“When I heard about Congo having their base camp here in Houston, I was like, this is an answered prayer,” said Nathan Samuel, a Congolese man who has lived in Houston for eight years. “Having Congo here at home for me in Houston, there’s no way I was going to miss any of their events, either the trainings or the games.”