Very good news for Congolese sportsmen. The DR Congo vs Morocco match on 23 March, in the first leg of the play-off for the 2022 World Cup, will indeed be played at the Martyrs Stadium in Kinshasa. The confirmation was made to the Congolese Football Federation (FECOFA) by CAF.
The presence of the public is also authorized. The capacity is however set at 25,000 spectators according to the secretary general of the Congolese body, Belge Situatala. Since March 2020, the Leopards have not played in this stadium that can accommodate 80 thousand spectators, because of the pandemic. The last official match of the DRC at the Martyrs stadium with a public goes back to November 2019. It was against Gabon in the first day of the 2021 AFCON qualifiers (0-0).
In the technical staff of the Congolese, we are pleased with the return of the public at the Martyrs stadium. "This is very good news for our team. In previous away matches, we played in stadiums that contained a crowd. This is the case for the match against Tanzania. To see the crowd in Kinshasa is very positive for us. I don't think it will be a negative pressure for the players because they will want to please their fans. But I only ask the fans who will come to the stadium to really support the team as the twelfth man who has been missing for more than two years," says Daula Lupembe, assistant coach of DR Congo.
