Tuanzebe: Congo Can Change World With Football
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- DR Congo face Portugal on Wednesday in their first World Cup match since 1974, ending a 52-year absence from the tournament.
- Axel Tuanzebe scored the decisive goal against Jamaica to seal DR Congo's qualification, calling it the moment that turned "116 million World Cup dreams into a reality."
- Tuanzebe, born in DR Congo and raised in Rochdale, England, chose to represent the Leopards in 2024 after consulting former Crystal Palace and Everton forward Yannick Bolasie about the Federation's improvements.
- Tuanzebe and fellow DR Congo defender Aaron Wan-Bissaka — both former Manchester United academy graduates — passed on opportunities to play for England to represent the country of their heritage.
- The Leopards are drawn in a group with Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, Colombia, and Uzbekistan, with Tuanzebe targeting a "Saudi Arabia-Argentina-style" upset in their opener.
- DR Congo's squad arrived in Houston wearing viral tailored suits featuring leopard designs, reflecting the country's fashion-forward culture, Tuanzebe said.
- DR Congo faces a decades-long conflict with millions displaced in the east amid fighting over natural minerals, though Tuanzebe said his platform as a footballer allows him to "spark a change into a better life."
Why it matters: Tuanzebe's decision to represent DR Congo over England gives the Leopards a Premier League-trained defender as they return to the World Cup for the first time in 52 years. His comments on Congo's mineral-driven conflict reframe the tournament as a platform for humanitarian attention, with his path showing the Congolese Federation has built enough infrastructure to attract dual-national talent from European academies.
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