The DR Congo national badminton team (French: Equipe nationale de badminton de la RD Congo; Lingala: Timu ya badminton ya Republíki ya Kongó Demokratíki) represents DR Congo in international team competitions.[1] The national team is controlled by the DR Congo Badminton Federation (FEBADCO; Federation de Badminton du Congo). The team are nicknamed Les Léopards.[2]
The Democratic Republic of the Congo first competed in the 2011 All-Africa Games mixed team event in 2011. The team made their first appearance at the African Badminton Championships in 2019. The Democratic Republic of the Congo junior team have also competed in the 2018 African Youth Games in the boys' team and the girls' team events.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo competed in the 2011 All-Africa Games and were drawn into Group 1 with Egypt and Mauritius. The team lost 5–0 to Mauritius and received a walkover from Egypt after the Egyptian team decided to withdraw from the competition.[3] At the 2015 African Games, the team were drawn into Group 4 with Seychelles, Ethiopia and Algeria. The team lost 5–0 to all of their opponents.[4]
In 2017, the Democratic Republic of the Congo originally planned to compete in the Summer Universiade mixed team event in Taipei but they later withdrew.[5] In 2019, the team competed in the African Badminton Championships. The team lost 5–0 to Uganda and Egypt in the group stage.[6] Months later, the team made their third appearance at the African Games. The team lost 5–0 to Algeria and Uganda.
In 2024, the DR Congo Badminton Federation planned to send the team which had 12 players from the national squad to compete in the 2023 African Games team event and the individual events.[7] However, the team had to withdraw from both team and individual events due to the team event being cancelled on short notice.[8]
