Linafoot: 25 clubs in two groups for 2026/27

Congolese Ligue 1 will retain two groups in 2026/27 before the single-league championship announced for 2027/28. In its September 10 notice, FECOFA sets the top-flight field at 25 clubs: thirteen in Group A and twelve in Group B. The move to twenty teams therefore concerns the following season, not the championship being prepared.

The federation links this structure to Executive Committee resolution No. 002/CE/SG/2026, dated September 9. It describes the decision as a gradual restructuring of national competitions following discussions with LINAFOOT and LIFKIN. The notice addresses participant numbers and movement between divisions rather than providing a club standings table.

In Ligue 1, the reduction is to be achieved through eight relegations. At the end of the regular phase, the four lowest-placed teams in each group will drop to Ligue 2. Three clubs will move the other way, with one promotion place for each of the Centre-South, West and North-East development zones. The announced arithmetic is consistent: 25 clubs, minus eight relegated teams, plus three promoted sides produce twenty participants for 2027/28.

Ligue 2 is to contain 58 teams in 2026/27. That field combines eight clubs relegated from Ligue 1 at the end of 2025/26, eleven champions of provincial-league competitions and thirty-nine clubs from the previous Ligue 2 season. Those thirty-nine places are allocated according to duly established sporting rankings.

FECOFA consequently rules out retaining a Ligue 2 club that finished 2025/26 in a relegation position or falls outside the thirty-nine teams selected through those rankings. The affected clubs are to return to their territorially competent provincial leagues. Participation in the previous season therefore does not mean automatic retention in the division.

The second tier is then intended to fall to 48 clubs in 2027/28. As part of that reduction, the bottom six in each development zone, eighteen teams in total, will be relegated to their home provincial leagues. The federation explains the reform as an effort to control participant numbers, improve competitiveness and adapt the organisation of the competition to Congolese football’s economic, geographical and logistical constraints.