Étoile du Congo

Étoile du Congo is a Congolese football club based in Brazzaville.

History
L'Étoile du Congo started as a team in the Fédération Athlétique Congolaise (FAC), a league run by Catholic missionaries in the Belgian Congo. The church provided clothes and shoes and the team was required to attend mass. The team, known at the time as Renaissance, won the Brazzaville city championship each year from 1945 to 1950 led by team-captain Dominique Sombo. They played at Eboué stadium, which was owned by the mission.

Controversy
The players, being colonized, were not compensate at all for their efforts. The mission would collect money at the gates, and did not pay for medical treatment or transport to games. In 1951, the players decided to write to the Director of Social Services to request to leave the mission and to be sponsored by a cultural center. After threatening to boycott colonial administrators assuaged their demands to avoid popular outcry. Renaissance won another city championship and independence from the FAC. To celebrate their new autonomy, the team changed their name to L'Étoile, in respect to a star Brazzaville team from the 1930s. The name Renaissance was given to reserve team of younger players.

Honours

 * Congo Premier League: 11
 * 1967, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1989, 2000, 2001, 2006.


 * Coupe du Congo: 6
 * 1983, 1995, 2000, 2002, 2006, 2019.


 * Super Coupe du Congo: 1
 * 2019.

Performance in CAF competitions

 * CAF Champions League: 3 appearances
 * 2001 – second round
 * 2002 – second round
 * 2007 – second round


 * African Cup of Champions Clubs: 8 appearances


 * 1968 – first round
 * 1979 – second round
 * 1980 – quarter-finals


 * 1982 – first round
 * 1988 – first round
 * 1990 – second round


 * 1993 – first round
 * 1995 – first round


 * CAF Confederation Cup: 2 appearances
 * 2007 – second round of 16
 * 2015 – preliminary round


 * CAF Cup: 1 appearance
 * 1992 – second round


 * CAF Cup Winners' Cup: 3 appearances
 * 1996 – first round
 * 2000 – quarter-finals
 * 2003 – second round