DR Congo to host 2026 African Wrestling Championships

DR Congo is now taking its place among the countries hosting major events on the African continent. After successfully staging the IXth Jeux de la Francophonie in 2023, followed by the African boxing and women's handball championships in 2024, DR Congo is now preparing to host the 2026 African Wrestling Championships.

The announcement came from Eric Kinzambi, president of the Congolese Federation of Associated Wrestling (Fecolutta), who said the hosting rights were awarded to DR Congo after the 2025 African Championships, held in Morocco last May, where the Leopards won 17 medals, 4 of them gold. "DR Congo has been chosen to host the 2026 African Wrestling Championships. After the good results achieved by our Leopards at the latest African Championships, the African Confederation believes DR Congo can stage a successful event next year ", he said.

Preparations get under way

Almost a year before the competition, talks have begun in Kinshasa on how to make this celebration of wrestling in Africa a real success.

Fecolutta president Eric Kinzambi wants to draw on the expertise of the National Committee of the IXth Jeux de la Francophonie (CNJF), which did a great deal of work when those Games of the global French-speaking community were held in Kinshasa in 2023.

To that end, Eric Kinzambi met CNJF director Isidore Kwandja to ask for his support in organising this major competition. "We can't stage an event like this on our own. We know there is expertise in Congo. There is someone who has already organised a major cultural and sporting event. That is why we are approaching him, so that he can help us and support us in making this event a success", Eric Kinzambi said.

For his part, Isidore Kwandja welcomed the request. "You know that during preparations for the IXth Jeux de la Francophonie, wrestling was our guinea pig. Two months before the Games, we organised a competition with Angola and Congo Brazzaville. It was a full-scale test of how we would run the Jeux de la Francophonie. I am delighted that the Fecolutta president, with whom we worked during the preparations and whose expertise we benefited from, has come back today with this good news and, in turn, is asking for our expertise. It is to our country's credit: hosting the Jeux de la Francophonie left us with infrastructure that allows us to stage all sorts of African competitions in our country ", Isidore Kwandja said.

These African Wrestling Championships will be held in Kinshasa and will cover all three categories in both versions: cadets, juniors and seniors.