Réunion national football team

The Réunion national football team (French: Sélection de la Réunion de football) is the regional team of the French overseas department and region of Réunion and is controlled by the Réunionese Football League, local branch of the French Football Federation. Réunion is not a member of FIFA and is only an associate member of CAF, and is therefore not eligible to enter either the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations. However, it has played numerous matches, most of them against the island nations of Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Seychelles.

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Réunion women's national football team.
Réunion
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Club R
AssociationLigue Réunionnaise de Football
ConfederationCAF (Africa)
Sub-confederationCOSAFA (Southern Africa)
Head coachJean-Pierre Bade
CaptainBertrand Bador
Most capsJean-Michel Fontaine (30)
Top scorerJean-Michel Fontaine (15)
Home stadiumStade Jean-Ivoula
FIFA codeREU
First colours
Second colours
First international
Madagascar 4–2 Réunion Réunion
(Madagascar; Date Unknown, 1947)
Biggest win
Unofficial
 Réunion 11–0 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 
(Saint-Gratien, France; 22 September 2010)
Official
Réunion Réunion 9–0 Maldives 
(Saint-Denis, Réunion; 28 August 1979)
Réunion Réunion 9–0 Maldives 
(Curepipe, Mauritius; 30 August 1985)
Biggest defeat
 Mauritius 15–2 Réunion Réunion
(Madagascar; Date Unknown, 1950)

History

Réunion's first international came in the 1947 Triangulaire, losing twice against Mauritius (2–1) and Madagascar (4–2). Réunion won their first match in the 1950 edition, beating Madagascar 3–2.

In the 1979 Indian Ocean Island Games, Réunion qualified top of their group, beating Seychelles (3–0) and Maldives (9–0). In the semi-finals, they beat Comoros (6–1), leading to a rematch against Seychelles in the final. Réunion won 2–1.

Réunion qualified for the final of the 1985 Indian Ocean Island Games, losing on penalties to Mauritius after a 4–4 draw. Réunion got out of the group stage again at the 1993 Games, beating Mauritius in the semi-finals 1–0 with Jimmy Moultanin scoring their only goal. They lost 1–0 to Madagascar in the final. They got their revenge against Madagascar in the 1998 final, drawing 3–3 in regular time before winning 7–6 on penalties.

Réunion made it to the final of the 2003 Indian Ocean Island Games losing to the hosts Mauritius 2–1. In the 2007 Games, Réunion won the competition despite scoring only two goals.

Réunion entered the inaugural 2008 Coupe de l'Outre-Mer, winning their group against Mayotte (6–1) and French Guiana (2–0), qualifying for the final, where they beat Martinique (1–0). They entered the 2010 Coupe de l'Outre-Mer, facing Martinique again in the final, losing on penalties.

Réunion advanced to the knock-out stages of the 2011 Indian Ocean Island Games, losing to Seychelles (2–1) in extra-time. They beat Mayotte 1–0 to claim third place. In the 2012 Coupe de l'Outre-Mer Réunion qualified for the final match, beating French Guiana (2–0), Saint Pierre and Miquelon (10–0) and Guadeloupe (2–1) before meeting Martinique for the third consequtive final, defeating them 10–9 on penalties. In the 2015 Games Réunion beat Mayotte 3–1 in the final and in the 2019 competition they beat Mauritius on penalties, with Mathieu Pélops saving all five attempts in the penalty shoot-out.[1]

Latest squad

The following players were selected to the squad for the 2019 Indian Ocean Island Games.

Caps and goals updated as of 28 July 2019, after the match against  Mauritius.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Mathieu Pélops (1986-11-07) 7 November 1986 13 0 Réunion AS Corbeil-Essonnes
1GK Grégory Pausé (1979-11-30) 30 November 1979 2 0 Réunion SS Jeanne d'Arc
2DF Sébastien K’Bidy (1987-02-02) 2 February 1987 16 0 Réunion Saint-Denis FC
2DF Bertrand Bador (1987-04-16) 16 April 1987 15 0 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
2DF Joé Damour (1990-01-26) 26 January 1990 5 1 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
2DF Mickaël Dubaril (1990-12-02) 2 December 1990 4 0 Réunion Trois-Bassins
2DF Mathieu Sarpedon (1991-05-25) 25 May 1991 4 1 Réunion La Tamponnaise
2DF Florent Ichiza (1993-02-02) 2 February 1993 3 0 Réunion US Sainte-Marienne
3MF Yoann Guichard (1986-09-09) 9 September 1986 9 0 Réunion Saint-Denis FC
3MF Thomas Souevamanien (1993-09-07) 7 September 1993 8 0 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
3MF Jonathan Boyer (1992-12-09) 9 December 1992 5 0 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
3MF Anjy Vardapin (1994-10-13) 13 October 1994 5 1 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
3MF Karim Imira (1994-04-12) 12 April 1994 3 0 Réunion AS Excelsior
3MF Jean-Thomas Alpou (1998-07-02) 2 July 1998 2 0 Réunion Saint-Denis FC
3MF Ronan Nédélec (1996-05-19) 19 May 1996 1 0 Réunion La Tamponnaise
4FW Jean-Michel Fontaine (1988-08-28) 28 August 1988 26 15 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
4FW Alexandre Loricourt (1992-03-24) 24 March 1992 7 2 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
4FW Akbar Assoumani (1997-01-21) 21 January 1997 4 1 Réunion Saint-Denis FC
4FW Loic Rivière (1994-08-02) 2 August 1994 4 1 Réunion La Tamponnaise
4FW Sylvain Philéas (1994-01-24) 24 January 1994 3 1 Réunion La Tamponnaise

Records
As of 20 September 2023
Players in bold are still active with Réunion.

Most appearances
Rank Player Caps Goals Career
1 Jean-Michel Fontaine 30 15 2007-present
2 Gérard Hubert 29 1 2003–2015
3 William Mounoussamy 24 1 2003–2015
Gäel Payet 24 0 2003–2012
5 Johan Lionel 22 0 2005–2012
6 Éric Farro 21 9 2002–2012
7 John Elcaman 18 1 2002–2011
8 Sébastien K'Bidy 16 0 2011–2019
9 Bertrand Bador 15 0 2010–
Nicolas Hoarau 15 1 2005–2011

Top goalscorers
Rank Name Goals Caps Ratio Career
1 Jean-Michel Fontaine 15 30 0.5 2007–present
2 Mamoudou Diallo 9 9 1 2008–2011
Éric Farro 9 21 0.43 2002–2012
4 Bernard Lacollay 7 9 0.78 1993–2002
5 Willy Visnelda 5 13 0.38 2005–2011
6 Quentin Boesso 4 6 0.67 2008–2015
Mickaël Vallant 4 6 0.67 2011–2012
8 Eric Bacco 3 3 1 1998
Mohamed El Madaghri 3 7 0.43 2011–2012
10 Alexandre Loricourt 2 7 0.29 2015–present

Competitive record

Indian Ocean Island Games
Indian Ocean Island Games record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA
Réunion 1979 Champions 1st 4 4 0 0 20 2
Mauritius 1985 Runners-up 2nd 3 2 1 0 14 4
Madagascar 1990 Group stage 5th 2 0 1 1 0 1
Seychelles 1993 Runners-up 2nd 4 3 0 1 5 1
Réunion 1998 Champions 1st 4 3 1 0 10 3
Mauritius 2003 Runners-up 2nd 4 3 0 1 7 2
Madagascar 2007 Champions 1st 4 1 3 0 2 1
Seychelles 2011 Third place 3rd 4 2 0 2 4 5
Réunion 2015 Champions 1st 4 4 0 0 8 1
Mauritius 2019 Champions 1st 5 4 0 1 10 2
Total 5 Titles 10/10 38 26 6 6 80 22

Coupe de l'Outre-Mer
Coupe de l'Outre-Mer record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA
France 2008 Champions 1st 3 3 0 0 9 1
France 2010 Runners-up 2nd 4 3 1 0 14 1
France 2012 Champions 1st 4 3 1 0 16 3
Total 2 Titles 3/3 11 9 2 0 39 5

Triangulaire
Triangulaire record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA
Madagascar 1947 Third place 3rd 2 0 0 2 3 6
Mauritius 1948 Third place 3rd 2 0 0 2 2 7
Réunion 1949 Third place 3rd 2 0 0 2 1 9
Madagascar 1950 Runners-up 2nd 2 1 0 1 5 17
Mauritius 1951 Third place 3rd 2 0 0 2 3 13
Réunion 1952 Third place 3rd 2 0 0 2 0 7
Madagascar 1953 Third place 3rd 2 0 0 2 8 15
Mauritius 1954 Runners-up 2nd 2 1 0 1 6 13
Réunion 1955 Third place 3rd 2 0 0 2 3 7
Madagascar 1956 Third place 3rd 2 0 0 2 5 12
Mauritius 1957 Runners-up 2nd 2 1 0 1 1 1
Réunion 1958 Third Place 3rd 2 0 0 2 1 5
Madagascar 1963 Runners-up 2nd 2 1 0 1 3 6
Total Runners-up 13/13 26 4 0 22 41 118

Head-to-head record
Opponent
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Comoros641113310
 Congo210135-2
 French Guiana3210303
 Gabon100103-3
 Guadeloupe2101330
 Kenya300327-5
 Madagascar2134143053-23
 Malawi100128-6
 Maldives220018018
 Martinique2110101
 Mauritius35791939101-62
 Mayotte43101248
 New Caledonia2200734
 Saint Pierre and Miquelon110011011
 Seychelles151212301020
 Tanzania1010110
 Togo1100101
 Zaire1100211
 Zimbabwe301235-2
Total106412045181207–26

References
  1. "Goalkeeper saves ALL FIVE spot kicks in a bizarre penalty shootout in tropical island Mauritius". Yahoo. Archived from the original on 2022-02-16. Retrieved 2022-02-16.
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