kids encyclopedia robot

Réunion national football team facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
This page is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Réunion women's national football team.
Quick facts for kids
Réunion
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Club R
Association Ligue Réunionnaise de Football
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation COSAFA (Southern Africa)
Head coach Jean-Pierre Bade
Captain Bertrand Bador
Most caps Jean-Michel Fontaine (29)
Top scorer Jean-Michel Fontaine (15)
Home stadium Stade Jean-Ivoula
FIFA code REU
First colours
Second colours
Elo ranking
Current 110 Increase 3 (3 March 2019)
Highest 105 (2017)
Lowest 154 (13 July 1983)
First international
Madagascar 4–2 Réunion
(Madagascar; Date Unknown, 1947)
Biggest win
Unofficial
 Réunion 11–0 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 
(Saint-Gratien, France; 22 September 2010)
Official
Réunion 9–0 Maldives 
(Saint-Denis, Réunion; 28 August 1979)
Réunion 9–0 Maldives 
(Curepipe, Mauritius; 30 August 1985)
Biggest defeat
 Mauritius 15–2 Réunion
(Madagascar; Date Unknown, 1950)

The Réunion national football team (also known as Sélection de la Réunion de football in French) represents Réunion in football. Réunion is a French island located in the Indian Ocean. The team is managed by the Réunionese Football League. This league is part of the French Football Federation.

Réunion is not a full member of FIFA. It is only an associate member of the CAF. This means they cannot play in big tournaments like the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations. However, they have played many games against other island nations. These include teams from Madagascar, Mauritius, and the Seychelles.

Team History

Réunion played its first international match in 1947. They lost twice in the 1947 Triangulaire tournament. They lost to Mauritius (2–1) and Madagascar (4–2). Réunion won their first game in 1950. They beat Madagascar 3–2.

Indian Ocean Island Games Success

In the 1979 Indian Ocean Island Games, Réunion did very well. They won their group by beating Seychelles (3–0) and Maldives (9–0). In the semi-finals, they defeated Comoros (6–1). They then played Seychelles again in the final. Réunion won the final match 2–1.

Réunion reached the final of the 1985 Indian Ocean Island Games. They tied 4–4 with Mauritius but lost in a penalty shootout. In the 1993 Games, they made it past the group stage. They beat Mauritius 1–0 in the semi-finals. Jimmy Moultanin scored the only goal. They lost 1–0 to Madagascar in the final.

Réunion got their revenge against Madagascar in the 1998 final. The game ended in a 3–3 draw. Réunion then won 7–6 in a penalty shootout. They reached the final of the 2003 Indian Ocean Island Games. They lost 2–1 to the host team, Mauritius. In the 2007 Games, Réunion won the competition. They achieved this despite scoring only two goals in the whole tournament.

Coupe de l'Outre-Mer Achievements

Réunion played in the first 2008 Coupe de l'Outre-Mer tournament. They won their group against Mayotte (6–1) and French Guiana (2–0). This led them to the final. There, they beat Martinique (1–0).

They also played in the 2010 Coupe de l'Outre-Mer. They faced Martinique again in the final. This time, they lost in a penalty shootout. Réunion reached the final of the 2012 Coupe de l'Outre-Mer. They beat French Guiana (2–0), Saint Pierre and Miquelon (10–0), and Guadeloupe (2–1). They met Martinique for the third final in a row. Réunion won 10–9 on penalties.

Recent Games

In the 2011 Indian Ocean Island Games, Réunion reached the knockout stages. They lost to Seychelles (2–1) in extra time. They then beat Mayotte 1–0 to finish in third place.

In the 2015 Games, Réunion beat Mayotte 3–1 in the final. In the 2019 competition, they beat Mauritius on penalties. Their goalkeeper, Mathieu Pélops, saved all five penalty shots.

Current Team Players

The players listed below were chosen for the squad for the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games.

The number of games played (caps) and goals scored were last updated on July 28, 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 (age 38) 13 0 Réunion AS Corbeil-Essonnes
1GK Grégory Pausé (1979-11-30) 30 November 1979 (age 45) 2 0 Réunion SS Jeanne d'Arc
2DF Sébastien K’Bidy (1987-02-02) 2 February 1987 (age 38) 16 0 Réunion Saint-Denis FC
2DF Bertrand Bador (1987-04-16) 16 April 1987 (age 38) 15 0 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
2DF Joé Damour (1990-01-26) 26 January 1990 (age 35) 5 1 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
2DF Mickaël Dubaril (1990-12-02) 2 December 1990 (age 34) 4 0 Réunion Trois-Bassins
2DF Mathieu Sarpedon (1991-05-25) 25 May 1991 (age 34) 4 1 Réunion La Tamponnaise
2DF Florent Ichiza (1993-02-02) 2 February 1993 (age 32) 3 0 Réunion US Sainte-Marienne
3MF Yoann Guichard (1986-09-09) 9 September 1986 (age 38) 9 0 Réunion Saint-Denis FC
3MF Thomas Souevamanien (1993-09-07) 7 September 1993 (age 31) 8 0 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
3MF Jonathan Boyer (1992-12-09) 9 December 1992 (age 32) 5 0 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
3MF Anjy Vardapin (1994-10-13) 13 October 1994 (age 30) 5 1 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
3MF Karim Imira (1994-04-12) 12 April 1994 (age 31) 3 0 Réunion AS Excelsior
3MF Jean-Thomas Alpou (1998-07-02) 2 July 1998 (age 27) 2 0 Réunion Saint-Denis FC
3MF Ronan Nédélec (1996-05-19) 19 May 1996 (age 29) 1 0 Réunion La Tamponnaise
4FW Jean-Michel Fontaine (1988-08-28) 28 August 1988 (age 36) 26 15 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
4FW Alexandre Loricourt (1992-03-24) 24 March 1992 (age 33) 7 2 Réunion JS Saint-Pierroise
4FW Akbar Assoumani (1997-01-21) 21 January 1997 (age 28) 4 1 Réunion Saint-Denis FC
4FW Loic Rivière (1994-08-02) 2 August 1994 (age 31) 4 1 Réunion La Tamponnaise
4FW Sylvain Philéas (1994-01-24) 24 January 1994 (age 31) 3 1 Réunion La Tamponnaise

Team Records

Players whose names are in bold are still playing for Réunion.

Most Games Played

Rank Player Caps Goals Years Played
1 Jean-Michel Fontaine 29 15 2007–present
2 Gérard Hubert 27 1 2003–2015
3 William Mounoussamy 24 1 2003–2015
Gaël Payet 24 0 2003–2012
5 Johan Lionel 22 0 2005–2012
6 Éric Farro 21 9 2002–2012
7 Bertrand Bador 18 0 2010–present
John Elcaman 18 1 2002–2011
9 Sébastien K'Bidy 16 0 2011–2019
10 Nicolas Hoarau 15 1 2005–2011

Top Goal Scorers

Jean-Michel Fontaine
Jean-Michel Fontaine is Réunion's player with the most games played and most goals scored.
Rank Name Goals Caps Ratio Years Played
1 Jean-Michel Fontaine 15 29 0.52 2007–present
2 Éric Farro 9 21 0.43 2002–2012
3 Bernard Lacollay 7 9 0.78 1993–2002
4 Willy Visnelda 5 13 0.38 2005–2011
5 Mickaël Vallant 4 6 0.67 2011–2012
Quentin Boesso 4 6 0.67 2008–2015
7 Eric Bacco 3 3 1 1998
Mohamed El Madaghri 3 7 0.43 2011–2012
9 Anjy Vardapin 2 8 0.25 2015–present
Alexandre Loricourt 2 10 0.2 2015–present

Tournament Results

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
Madagascar 2023 Runners-up 2nd 4 1 2 1 3 2
Total 5 Titles 11/11 42 27 8 7 83 24

Triangulaire Tournament

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

Coupe de l'Outre-Mer Tournament

Coupe de l'Outre-Mer record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA
France2008 Champions 1st 3 3 0 0 9 1
France2010 Runners-up 2nd 4 3 1 0 14 1
France2012 Champions 1st 4 3 1 0 16 3
Total Champions 3/3 11 9 2 0 39 5

Match Records Against Other Teams

  • This information was last updated on May 7, 2011, after the game between New Caledonia and Réunion (1–3).
Opponent
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Comoros 6 4 1 1 13 3 10
 Congo 2 1 0 1 3 5 -2
 French Guiana 3 2 1 0 3 0 3
 Gabon 1 0 0 1 0 3 -3
 Guadeloupe 2 1 0 1 3 3 0
 Kenya 3 0 0 3 2 7 -5
 Madagascar 21 3 4 14 30 53 -23
 Malawi 1 0 0 1 2 8 -6
 Maldives 2 2 0 0 18 0 18
 Martinique 2 1 1 0 1 0 1
 Mauritius 35 7 9 19 39 101 -62
 Mayotte 4 3 1 0 12 4 8
 New Caledonia 2 2 0 0 7 3 4
 Saint Pierre and Miquelon 1 1 0 0 11 0 11
 Seychelles 15 12 1 2 30 10 20
 Tanzania 1 0 1 0 1 1 0
 Togo 1 1 0 0 1 0 1
 Zaire 1 1 0 0 2 1 1
 Zimbabwe 3 0 1 2 3 5 -2
Total 106 41 20 45 181 207 –26

Team Honours

Regional Competitions

  • Indian Ocean Island Games
    • Med 1.png Gold medal (5): 1979, 1998, 2007, 2015, 2019
    • Med 2.png Silver medal (4): 1985, 1993, 2003, 2023
    • Med 3.png Bronze medal (1): 2011
  • Triangulaire
    • Med 2.png Runners-up (4): 1950, 1954, 1957, 1963
    • Med 3.png Third place (9): 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958

Other Titles

  • Coupe de l'Outre-Mer
    • Med 1.png Champions (2): 2008, 2012
    • Med 2.png Runners-up (1): 2010

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Selección de fútbol de Reunión para niños

kids search engine
All content from Kiddle encyclopedia articles (including the article images and facts) can be freely used under Attribution-ShareAlike license, unless stated otherwise. Cite this article:
Réunion national football team Facts for Kids. Kiddle Encyclopedia.