Absent from Cameroon, DR Congo is making its return to the AFCON. Lodged in Pool F, the Leopards kick off the competition against Zambia on January 17. Their ambition is to have an excellent tournament, even if coach Sébastien Desabre acknowledges that the team is still rebuilding. "We're in a rebuilding phase. But we want to rebuild and perform at the same time. Our plan was to go to the AFCON 2025, given our poor showing in the AFCON qualifiers. But here we are. We're going into the competition with a twofold objective: to go as far as possible and continue to work on renewing our squad," confided the French coach on the CAF website.