MTNFootball

Gabon’s national football team is known by the nickname ‘Azingo Nationale’ or ‘The Black Panthers’. They have never qualified for the FIFA World Cup, though they finished just behind West African giants Cameroon in the final phase of qualifying for the 2010 edition.

Gabon have appeared at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations three times, with their best showing a quarterfinal berth in the 1996 edition. They last appeared at the tournament in the year 2000, though they have qualified for Angola 2010 and will co-host the 2012 Nations Cup along with Equatorial Guinea.

Azingo Nationale are coached by former French great Alain Giresse and play their home games at the Stade Omar Bongo in Libreville. The venue is named after Gabon’s former president, who reigned from 1967 to 2009.

The country’s top flight football division is known as the Gabon Championnat National D1. It was formed in 1968 and is presently contested between 12 teams. The reigning champions are AS Stade Mandji from Port-Gentil.

The most successful side in the history of the competition is FC 105 Libreville (11 titles), nearly double that of nearest challengers AS Sogara and AS Mangasport (six titles each). AS Sogara were runners-up in the 1986 African Cup Winners’ Cup.

FIFA World Rankings

Country	Updated 28 Oct
67 Georgia	-3
68 Gabon	-1
69 Mali	-6

Africa Rankings

Country	Updated 28 Oct
14 Cape Verde	25
15 Gabon	-1
16 Mali	-6

Team Info

Team History