Gabon

Gabon national football team.

Gabon began their journey on April 13 1960, when they participated in the first Friendship Games (Jeux de L'Amitie) tournament, designed to accommodate francophone African nations (a predecessor to current African Games) which was which was held at Antananarivo, Madagascar. In the first round, they played against Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) which was in their very first tournament and were defeated 5-4, although they led 3-2 at halftime. They didn't play a game for more than a decade and a half until the next tournament that was held in December of 1961 at Abidjan, Ivory Coast. They were selected in Pool 3 along with Cameroon along with Senegal. Gabon started the tournament with a loss of 3-2 in the face of Senegal during Christmas Day and was then beaten by 6-0 Cameroon at Boxing Day, finishing bottom of their group. After a few months of the tournament began, Gabon's Gabonese Football Federation (Federation Gabonaise de Football) was created to supervise their development as a national side as well as the local game. The new organization would not need to wait for long for their first victory, for the next game they played on July 14th, 1962, they beat their opponents in the Congo 3-1 during their debut match played on their home turf. They played two more matches in 1962, including a 1-1 draw at home against Cameroon on the 20th of August, an improvement of a significant amount over their previous encounter and a 3-1 away loss to the Congo on 16 September before they entered in the final Friendship Games held in April 1963 in Dakar, Senegal. They were in Group C along together with British Gambia, the France amateur team and Upper Volta. They started on April 12 by winning 4-0 against Upper Volta, but were well-beaten against the French amateurs two days after. They lost their final match 2-3 against British Gambia on 16 April and ended up finishing 2nd in their group, which was a significant improvement from their previous two games in the tournament. however , only the group winners were able to progress and Gabon was eliminated. In the following months, Gabon entered qualification for the 1966 FIFA World Cup held in England. On the 8th of October 1964, they pulled out of the tournament, as did all other African participants, protesting against FIFA's decision to give one finals spot to every country in Africa, Asia and Oceania.

Due to the decision to boycott the game, Gabon did not play another game for two years, until August 1965 and hosted an international double-header match against Nigeria with a draw on the 28th of August before losing 4-1 the following day. The 35th FIFA Congress held in London, England on 6 July 1966, Gabon were officially admitted as full members of FIFA. They played their first match on the 2nd of December in 1966, when they lost 4-3 in a match against Democratic Republic of the Congo after which they played the same match on January 4 1967 in their home stadium, winning by 1-0. They also played a friendlymatch, a 3-0 home loss to their home country of Ivory Coast on 28 March and then qualified to play in the 1998 Olympic football tournamentthat was that was played in Mexico. In the first round they were assigned to Guinea where they played the first match 0-0 at home on the 18th of June after which they were defeated in the subsequent leg by 6-1 on the 9th July. The year 1967 was the time they joined the full membership of the CAF. After the Olympic qualifying tournament, Gabon did not play another game for more than two years, until they went towards Dahomey (now Benin) on 24 August 1969, to play an informal match, which they lost 1-1.

Gabon was then not playing for more than a year until they were able to qualify for Africa Cup of Nations for the first time. Their bid to be eligible for the 1972 tournament in Cameroon failed at the first obstacle however, when the team was drawn to Ivory Coast in the First Round. They lost the opening game at home, 2-1, on November 8, 1970 and were defeated by 1-0 away just two weeks later. Gabon began their qualification process to play in the 1972 Olympic football tournament that was held within West Germany. In the First Round , they faced Cameroon. After losing the first leg by a score of 3-2 in Libreville on May 30, 1971 Gabon had to forfeit the match because they didn't go to Yaounde to play the second match. After the humiliation, Gabon entered qualification for the 1974 FIFA World Cup held in West Germany, and were expected to take on Cameroon in the first round of play in the summer of 1972, but they resigned before games could begin. Due to the decision, they were unable to take part in another match for more than an entire year before they were able to participate in the football tournament of the 2002 Central African Cup (a precursor to the Central African Games) held in Brazzaville, Congo. The tournament was a round-robin competition with five teams that comprised, along with Gabon; Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Congo and Chad. They played their first game on July 16 against the Congo and lost by 3-0. A few days later, they lost 3-1 to The Central African Republic and on 20 July, they were firmly defeated by Cameroon 4-1. But they saved some pride when they beat Chad by 1-0 in their final game on 22 July in order to keep themselves from the bottom. Additionally, the tournament also served as a qualification in the 1973 All-Africa Games football tournament, and since Gabon didn't beat the group and did not qualify, they were not able to make it. The following year, they were in qualifying to play in the 1974 African Cup of Nations held in Egypt and were set to take on the Central African Republic in the summer of 1973. However, they pulled out again before the ball was played.

This meant that Gabon didn't play a single game for nearly four years, until they defeated Sao Tome as well as Principe 6-1 in a friendly match in May 1976. It occurred in May 1976, Sao Tome as well as Principe's debut international game. The following week, Gabon hosted the first Central African Games. The football tournament was held in Gabon. they were placed in Group B with Burundi, Cameroon and Rwanda. They played their opening game on the 28th of June, and scored the victory with a convincing 4-1 against Burundi. On 1 July they played a draw of 1-1 against Zaire who had traveled from Gabon to play all teams within Group B on a friendlier capacity, but not been able to participate in the actual competition. On the 5th of July, Gabon had another win of awe-inspiring and beat Rwanda 3-1. In their final game of the group on July 7, they played their neighbors Cameroon to a respectable draw, securing second spot (having just not been able to secure the top spot by goals difference) and qualifying for Semi-Finals. In their 9th July match, they took on Group A winners , the Congo and were only beaten by a 1-0 score. Then, two days later they were able to secure third place by winning 3-1 win over their opponents, the Central African Republic, to finish off an impressive performance at the tournament they played in. In the year following, Gabon entered qualification for the 1978 African Cup of Nations held in Ghana. After getting an early start in the First Round the team was drawn against Congo in the second. They lost the first game away by 3-2 on July 17, 1977, before drawing the next match at home 3-3 on July 31 and lost 6-5 in aggregate. The following year, they took part in an qualifying tournament for the football tournament at the 1998 All-Africa Games held in Algiers, Algeria. The qualifying tournament for their zone that was held in Cameroon it was divided into two groups and only the two top teams from each group going on through to Semi-Finals. The Gabon group (B) was Burundi and in the group (B) were Burundi, Congo along with Equatorial Guinea. They defeated Equatorial Guinea with a 2-0 win in their opening game on Christmas Eve. They then beat the Congo 1-1 in the Boxing Day and defeated Burundi by 2-0 just the next day. With three wins out of 3 they topped their group. They then played the Group A winners Chad during the semi-finals, to which the team lost 3-1 at New Year's Eve and thus failed to get into the tournament, as only the winner of the tournament went into the Finals. Then, in January 1978, the team played an international friendly against Nigeria and lost 1-1. In January 1979, they scored an away draw of 2-2 against Rwanda and then beat Ivory Coast 2-1 at home in April.

At the time of the 2010, at the Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon defeated Cameroon by 1-0, and was in a decent position of making it to the quarter-finals following a draw that was scoreless against Tunisia. But, Gabon fell 2-1 against Zambia when it was eliminated from its group in a three-way tie Zambia as well as Cameroon. Gabon only scored twice during the group stage, and was eliminated on goals scored to break the tie. In 2012, at the Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon hosted the tournament with the other countries as it took home three group matches by 2-0 against Niger 3-1 against Morocco and 1-0 against Tunisia. The final match resulted in Gabon be able to make its first quarterfinal since 1996, in the most dramatic of circumstances. Gabon was able to lead 2-1, only to allow Morocco to draw the game in the early minutes of stoppage time. On the final kick of the match, Gabon made it 2-0 in eighth minutes stoppage time through a direct free kick. Then, Gabon lost 5-4 in penalties (1-1 a.e.t) in the quarterfinals against Mali following an error in the absence of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who had scored three goals during the tournament.

Gabon started it's 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign in the second round of Group E when it played alongside Niger, Burkina Faso, and Congo. Even though it started the campaign with a match with Niger, Gabon lost 3-0 because it fielded an unqualified players Charly Moussono. After four qualifying matches, Gabon scored only one goal, however because of an Aubameyang scoring a hat-trick on the 15th of June 13th, 2013 Gabon kept its hopes alive for an automatic play-off spot by winning 4-1 over Niger. But, Burkina Faso eliminated Gabon in the final qualifying match by a 1-0 score in which Gabon was 3rd in the group.

In this year's Africa Cup of Nations, Gabon is scheduled to play Togo. Despite the fact that Daniel Cousin scored in each game in the match against Togo, Gabon missed out at winning the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations as it was defeated 3-2 in aggregate. The following year, Gabon played six qualifiers for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations as it was drawn alongside Burkina Faso, Angola and Lesotho. Despite a remarkable 1-1 win in Lesotho during the qualifying phase, Gabon finished ahead of Burkina Faso to top the group, as it was able to qualify for the tournament, with a game left in Angola. In January of 2015, Gabon was drawn along with Burkina Faso, Congo and Equatorial Guinea. However, Gabon's 2-0 win on the first game was everything Gabon earned in the tournament, even though it was shattered during the stage of group play.

Below is a list of the results of the matches played over the past 12 months, and any future games that are scheduled.

Managers of caretaker are indicated in italics.

•  Jean Prouff (1960)
•  Robert Vicot (1979)
•  Alain de Martigny (1985–1986)
•  Nedeljko Bulatović (1986–1987)
•  Alain Da Costa (1987–1989)
•  Karl-Heinz Weigang (1989–1994)
•  Edouard Eroumbengani (1989–1991)
•  Robert Pintenat (1991–1992)
•  Jean Thissen (1992–1994)
•  Alain Da Costa (1994–1997)
•  Serge Devèze (1997–1998)
•  Antônio Dumas (1998–2000)
•  Claude Rayelomanan (2000)
•  Alain Da Costa (2000–2002)
•  Michel De Wolf (2002–2003)
•  Claude Albert Mbourounot (2003)
•  Jairzinho (2003–2005)
•  Raphaël Nzamba-Nzamba (2005–2006)
•  Alain Giresse (2006–2010)
•  Gernot Rohr (2010–2012)
•  Paulo Jorge Rebelo Duarte (2012–2013)
•  Stéphane Bounguendza (2014)
•  Jorge Costa (2014–2016)
•  José António Garrido (2016)
•  José Antonio Camacho (2016–2018)
•  Daniel Cousin (2018–2019)
•  Patrice Neveu (2019–present)

As per detail below.

• These players have been selected to play in 2023's 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches.
• Dates of matches: between 4 and June 8 in 2022.
• Opposition DR Congo and Mauritania
• Caps and goals are correct as of 8 . June 2022 just after the game in which played  Burkina Faso

No.	Pos.		Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	GK		Anthony Mfa Mezui	7 March 1991 (age 31)	19	0	Rodange 91
	GK		Jean-Noël Amonome	24 December 1997 (age 24)	11	0	AmaZulu
	GK		Donald Nzé	5 April 1992 (age 30)	3	0	Maniema Union
	DF		Bruno Ecuele Manga	16 July 1988 (age 34)	96	9	Dijon
	DF		Lloyd Palun	28 November 1988 (age 33)	73	0	Bastia
	DF		Aaron Appindangoyé	20 February 1992 (age 30)	56	2	Sivasspor
	DF		Johann Obiang	5 July 1993 (age 29)	44	0	Rodez
	DF		Junior Assoumou	22 July 1995 (age 27)	16	0	Aubagne
	DF		Anthony Oyono	12 April 2001 (age 21)	10	0	Frosinone
	DF		Yoann Wachter	7 April 1992 (age 30)	10	0	Saint-Malo
	DF		Alex Moucketou-Moussounda	10 October 2000 (age 21)	9	1	Aris Limassol
	DF		David Sambissa	11 January 1996 (age 26)	5	0	Cambuur
	DF		Yannis N'Gakoutou	30 September 1998 (age 24)	4	0	Lyon La Duchère
	DF		Jacques Ekomie	19 August 2003 (age 19)	0	0	Girondins de Bordeaux
	MF		André Biyogo Poko	1 January 1993 (age 29)	76	3	Altay
	MF		Guélor Kanga	1 August 1990 (age 32)	60	2	Crvena Zvezda
	MF		Louis Ameka	3 October 1996 (age 25)	26	0	Maghreb de Fès
	MF		Serge-Junior Martinsson Ngouali	23 January 1992 (age 30)	15	0	Sarpsborg
	MF		Medwin Biteghé	1 September 1996 (age 26)	8	0	Al-Hilal
	FW		Denis Bouanga	11 November 1994 (age 27)	32	7	Los Angeles FC
	FW		Axel Méyé	6 June 1995 (age 27)	32	2	Ittihad Tanger
	FW		Aaron Boupendza	7 August 1996 (age 26)	28	5	Al-Arabi
	FW		Jim Allevinah	27 February 1995 (age 27)	17	4	Clermont
	FW		Kévin Mayi	14 January 1993 (age 29)	5	0	Denizlispor
	FW		Shavy Babicka	1 June 2000 (age 22)	1	1	Aris Limassol
	FW		Alan Do Marcolino	19 March 2002 (age 20)	1	0	Stade Rennais

The following players have been called up for Gabon in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
DF	Gilchrist Nguema	7 August 1996 (age 26)	6	0	Maccabi Ahi Nazareth	v.  Burkina Faso, 23 January 2022
DF	Sidney Obissa	4 May 2000 (age 22)	7	0	Olympic Charleroi	v.  Burkina Faso, 23 January 2022
MF	Didier Ndong	17 May 1994 (age 28)	41	0	Yeni Malatyaspor	v.  Burkina Faso, 23 January 2022
MF	Mario Lemina	1 September 1993 (age 29)	25	3	Nice	v.  Burkina Faso, 23 January 2022RET
MF	Nathanael Mbourou	24 August 1996 (age 26)	2	0	Maritzburg United	v.  Burkina Faso, 23 January 2022
MF	Lévy Madinda	11 June 1992 (age 30)	56	6	Sabah	v.  Egypt, 16 November 2021
FW	Gaëtan Missi Mezu	4 May 1996 (age 26)	9	0	Tsarsko Selo	v.  Burkina Faso, 23 January 2022
FW	Fahd Ndzengue	7 July 2000 (age 22)	3	0	Tabor Sežana	v.  Burkina Faso, 23 January 2022
FW	Ulrick Eneme Ella	22 May 2001 (age 21)	4	0	Brighton & Hove Albion	v.  Burkina Faso, 23 January 2022
FW	Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang	18 June 1989 (age 33)	72	30	Chelsea	2021 Africa Cup of NationsRET

The players highlighted in bold are in active contact in Gabon.

As per detail below.

• 2009 – Did not qualify
• 2011 – Group stage
• 2014 – Quarter-finals
• 2016 – Group stage
• 2018 – Withdrew
• 2020 – Banned
• 2022 – Did not enter

UNIFAC Cup :

• Champions: 1999

UDEAC Championship :

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

CEMAC Cup :

• Champions: 2013
• Runner-up: 2007