Gabon national football team

Gabon

Nickname(s)	Les Panthères (The Panthers)
Association	Fédération Gabonaise de Football
Sub-confederation	UNIFFAC (Central Africa)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Jorge Costa
Captain	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Home stadium	Stade Omar Bongo
FIFA code	GAB
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	88 (5 May 2016)
Highest	30 (July 2009)
Lowest	125 (April 2005)
Elo ranking
Current	88 (31 March 2015)
Highest	63 (November 1996)
Lowest	123 (June 2004)
First international
Upper Volta 5–4 Gabon  (Madagascar; 13 April 1960)
Biggest win
Gabon 7–0 Benin  (Libreville, Gabon; 2 April 1995)
Biggest defeat
Cameroon 6–0 Gabon  (Abidjan, Ivory Coast; 26 December 1961)  Morocco 6–0 Gabon  (Rabat, Morocco; 15 November 2006)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	6 (First in 1994)
Best result	Quarter-finals: 1996 & 2012

The Gabon national football team, nicknamed Les Panthères (The Panthers), is the national team of Gabon and is controlled by the Fédération Gabonaise de Football. They have never qualified for the World Cup finals, but have qualified five times for the Africa Cup of Nations.^[1]

History

Gabon made its debut in April 1960 by entering the L'Amitié tournament for French-speaking countries, held in Madagascar. They played in the first round on 13 April against the Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso), who were also making their debut,^[2] and lost 5-4. They did not play another match until the next time the tournament was staged, in April 1963 in Senegal. and were drawn in a group with the Upper Volta, France's amateur team, and the Gambia. They opened on 11 April by defeating the Upper Volta 4-0, and then lost 3-0 to the French team two days later. On 15 April, Gabon drew 2-2 against the Gambia and was knocked out.

After the 1962 tournament in Senegal, Gabon did not play a match until August 1965, when they hosted two friendlies against Nigeria, drawing 2-2 on 28 August and losing 4-1 the next day. In 1967, Gabon entered qualification for the football at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Japan, and was drawn in a two-legged qualifier versus Guinea. They drew the first leg 0-0 at home on 18 June but lost 6-1 away on 9 July and were knocked out.

Following the Olympic qualifiers, Gabon played a friendly in Dahomey (now Benin) on 24 August 1969 and lost 1-0. In November 1970 they entered their first African Cup of Nations qualifier for the 1972 tournament in Ethiopia and were put into a two-legged qualifier versus the Ivory Coast. Gabon lost their home leg 2-1 on 8 November, and after losing 1-0 on 22 November in the Ivory Coast were knocked out. On 19 June 1971, Gabon hosted a qualifier for the football at the 1972 Summer Olympics in West Germany, and were knocked out after losing 3-2 to Cameroon.^[3]

In the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon upset Cameroon 1-0 and had a good chance of progressing to the quarter-finals after a scoreless draw against Tunisia. However, Gabon lost 2-1 to Zambia as it finished in its group with a three-way tie with Zambia and Cameroon. Gabon only scored twice in the group stage and were eliminated on the goals scored tiebreaker. In 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon co-hosted the tournament as it won their group matches: 2-0 against Niger, 3-2 against Morocco, and 1-0 against Tunisia. The second match saw Gabon qualify for its first quarter-final since 1996 in the most dramatic circumstances. Gabon had come back to lead 2-1 only for Tunisia to tie the match in early in stoppage time. However, on the final play of the game, Gabon scored in the eighth minute of stoppage time. Eventually, Gabon lost 5-4 in penalties (1-1 a.e.t) in the quarterfinal against Mali, after a penalty missed by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who had scored three goals in the tournament.

Gabon began its 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign in the second round in Group E as it was drawn with Niger, Burkina Faso, and Congo. Despite opening its campaign with a scoreless draw against Niger, Gabon lost 3-0 due to having fielded ineligible player Charly Moussono. After four qualifiers, Gabon scored only one goal, but thanks to an Aubameyang hat-trick on June 15, 2013, Gabon stayed in contention for a play-off berth with a 4-1 victory over Niger. However, Burkina Faso eliminated Gabon in the final qualifier with the 1-0 result as Gabon finished third in its group.

For the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon has been drawn to qualify against Togo. Even though Daniel Cousin scored in each leg against Togo, Gabon missed out on the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations as it lost 3-2 on aggregate. A year later, Gabon played six qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations as it was drawn with Burkina Faso, Angola and Lesotho. Despite a stunning 1-1 result in Lesotho in qualifying, Gabon finished ahead of Burkina Faso to top the group as it qualified for the tournament with a game to spare in Angola. In January 2015, Gabon was drawn along with Burkina Faso, Congo and Equatorial Guinea. However, its 2-0 victory on the opening day of the tournament were all the points Gabon achieved during the tournament as it suffered a shocking exit in the group stage.

Honours

UNIFAC Cup :

• Champions: 1999

UDEAC Championship :

• Champions: 1985, 1988
• Runner-up: 1989

CEMAC Cup :

• Champions: 2013
• Runner-up: 2007

Competition records

World Cup record

• 1930 to 1962 - Did not enter
• 1966 – Withdrew
• 1970 – Did not enter
• 1974 – Withdrew
• 1978 to 1986 – Did not enter
• 1990 to 2014 – Did not qualify

Africa Cup of Nations record

• 1957 to 1970 – Did not enter
• 1972 – Did not qualify
• 1974 – Withdrew
• 1976 – Did not enter
• 1978 – Did not qualify
• 1980 – Did not enter
• 1982 - Withdrew
• 1984 to 1992 – Did not qualify
• 1994 – Group Stage
• 1996 – Quarter-finals
• 1998 – Did not qualify
• 2000 – Group Stage
• 2002 to 2008 – Did not qualify
• 2010 – Group Stage
• 2012 – Quarter-finals
• 2013 – Did not qualify
• 2015 – Group Stage
• 2017 – Qualified

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification games against Sierra Leone on 25 and 28 March 2016.^[4]
Caps and goals updated as of 28 March 2016 after the game against Sierra Leone.^[5]

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK	Didier Ovono	23 January 1983	83	0	Oostende
	GK	Yves Bitséki	23 April 1983	18	1	US Bitam
	GK	Anthony Mfa Mezui	7 March 1991	4	0	Seraing United
	DF	Bruno Ecuele Manga	16 July 1988	51	6	Cardiff City
	DF	Aaron Appindangoyé	2 February 1992	27	1	Évian Thonon Gaillard
	DF	Johann Obiang	5 July 1993	12	0	Châteauroux
	DF	Henri Junior Ndong	23 August 1992	12	0	Auxerre
	DF	Randal Oto’o	23 May 1994	12	0	Tondela
	DF	Benjamin Zé Ondo	18 June 1987	12	0	MC Oujda
	DF	Yrondu Musavu-King	8 January 1992	9	0	Lorient
	DF	Ulysse Ndong	24 November 1992	0	0	Ermis Aradippou
	MF	Lévy Madinda	11 June 1992	37	5	Celta de Vigo
	MF	Guélor Kanga	1 September 1990	26	1	Rostov
	MF	Samson Mbingui	9 February 1992	22	3	NA Hussein Dey
	MF	Didier N'Dong	17 June 1994	18	0	Lorient
	MF	Merlin Tandjigora	6 April 1990	18	0	Meizhou Hakka
	MF	Franck Engonga	26 July 1993	13	0	Tala'ea El-Gaish
	MF	Mario Lemina	1 September 1993	5	1	Juventus
	FW	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	18 June 1989	45	19	Borussia Dortmund
	FW	Malick Evouna	28 November 1992	21	11	Al Ahly
	FW	Johann Lengoualama	29 September 1992	18	1	Olympic Safi
	FW	Frédéric Bulot	27 September 1990	18	0	Reims
	FW	Axel Méyé	6 June 1995	6	0	Eskişehirspor

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for Gabon squad within the past 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Edmond Mouele	18 February 1982	32	0	Mangasport	v.  Mozambique, 14 November 2015
DF	Lloyd Palun	28 November 1988	31	0	Red Star	v.  Mozambique, 14 November 2015
MF	André Biyogo Poko	7 March 1993	36	1	Bordeaux	v.  Mozambique, 14 November 2015
MF	Denis Bouanga	11 November 1994	0	0	Strasbourg	v.  Sudan, 5 September 2015 ^DEC
FW	Romuald Ntsitsigui	8 April 1991	15	0	Mangasport	v.  Mozambique, 14 November 2015

Notes

^DEC Player declined the call-up to the national team

Coaches

References

1. 2. "Gabon make an impact by Firdose Moonda". Espn Fc. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
2. "Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta) - List of International Matches". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 2014-02-20.
3. Archived February 20, 2003, at the Wayback Machine.
4. "CAN 2017 : La liste du Gabon contre la Sierra Leone" (in French). africatopsports.com.
5. "Gabon".

External links

• Homepage of the national team
• Gabon at FIFA.com