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.

Réunion
Nickname(s)Club R
AssociationLigue Réunionnaise de Football
ConfederationCAF (Africa)
Sub-confederationCOSAFA (Southern Africa)
Head coachJean-Pierre Bade
CaptainBertrand Bador
Most capsJean-Michel Fontaine (29)
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

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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.[4]

Latest squad

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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 (age 37) 13 0   AS Corbeil-Essonnes
1GK Grégory Pausé (1979-11-30) 30 November 1979 (age 44) 2 0   SS Jeanne d'Arc

2DF Sébastien K’Bidy (1987-02-02) 2 February 1987 (age 37) 16 0   Saint-Denis FC
2DF Bertrand Bador (1987-04-16) 16 April 1987 (age 37) 15 0   JS Saint-Pierroise
2DF Joé Damour (1990-01-26) 26 January 1990 (age 34) 5 1   JS Saint-Pierroise
2DF Mickaël Dubaril (1990-12-02) 2 December 1990 (age 33) 4 0   Trois-Bassins
2DF Mathieu Sarpedon (1991-05-25) 25 May 1991 (age 33) 4 1   La Tamponnaise
2DF Florent Ichiza (1993-02-02) 2 February 1993 (age 31) 3 0   US Sainte-Marienne

3MF Yoann Guichard (1986-09-09) 9 September 1986 (age 38) 9 0   Saint-Denis FC
3MF Thomas Souevamanien (1993-09-07) 7 September 1993 (age 31) 8 0   JS Saint-Pierroise
3MF Jonathan Boyer (1992-12-09) 9 December 1992 (age 31) 5 0   JS Saint-Pierroise
3MF Anjy Vardapin (1994-10-13) 13 October 1994 (age 30) 5 1   JS Saint-Pierroise
3MF Karim Imira (1994-04-12) 12 April 1994 (age 30) 3 0   AS Excelsior
3MF Jean-Thomas Alpou (1998-07-02) 2 July 1998 (age 26) 2 0   Saint-Denis FC
3MF Ronan Nédélec (1996-05-19) 19 May 1996 (age 28) 1 0   La Tamponnaise

4FW Jean-Michel Fontaine (1988-08-28) 28 August 1988 (age 36) 26 15   JS Saint-Pierroise
4FW Alexandre Loricourt (1992-03-24) 24 March 1992 (age 32) 7 2   JS Saint-Pierroise
4FW Akbar Assoumani (1997-01-21) 21 January 1997 (age 27) 4 1   Saint-Denis FC
4FW Loic Rivière (1994-08-02) 2 August 1994 (age 30) 4 1   La Tamponnaise
4FW Sylvain Philéas (1994-01-24) 24 January 1994 (age 30) 3 1   La Tamponnaise

Records

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As of 2 September 2023[5]
Players in bold are still active with Réunion.

Most appearances

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Rank Player Caps Goals Career
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 goalscorers

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Rank Name Goals Caps Ratio Career
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

Competitive record

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Indian Ocean Island Games

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Indian Ocean Island Games record
Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA
  1979 Champions 1st 4 4 0 0 20 2
  1985 Runners-up 2nd 3 2 1 0 14 4
  1990 Group stage 5th 2 0 1 1 0 1
  1993 Runners-up 2nd 4 3 0 1 5 1
  1998 Champions 1st 4 3 1 0 10 3
  2003 Runners-up 2nd 4 3 0 1 7 2
  2007 Champions 1st 4 1 3 0 2 1
  2011 Third place 3rd 4 2 0 2 4 5
  2015 Champions 1st 4 4 0 0 8 1
  2019 Champions 1st 5 4 0 1 10 2
 2023 Runners-up 2nd 4 1 2 1 3 2
Total 5 Titles 11/11 42 27 8 7 83 24

Triangulaire

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

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

Head-to-head record

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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

Honours

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Regional

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Other titles

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References

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  1. ^ Elo rankings change compared to one year ago. "World Football Elo Ratings". eloratings.net. 16 October 2024. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
  2. ^ "World Football Elo Ratings". Archived from the original on 2016-07-02. Retrieved 2016-06-30.
  3. ^ "World Football Elo Ratings: Réunion". eloratings.net. World Football Elo Ratings. 15 August 2018. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ "Reunion". National Football Teams.
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