Florent Ibenge Explains Why He Left DR Congo Post

Florent Ibenge has spoken out for the first time after resigning as head coach for DR Congo nine months ago.

The 57-year-old mentor had been in charge since August 2014 and led the Leopards to three consecutive Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

In 2015 they finished in third place, two years later they reached the quarterfinals and in 2019 in Egypt they lost in the last 16 at the hands of Madagascar.

Media reports suggested that the tactician, who resigned immediately after the team lost to Madagascar, was to take a coaching job with an unnamed French top-flight side.

But according to Ibenge, fatigue syndrome forced him to throw the towel after guiding the Leopards to the 2015, 2017 and 2019 editions of AFCON.

“It is a decision that was already made in advance. It dated a long time before the eve of this last tournament in Egypt. I had travelled intensively across Europe to monitor players. I was frankly tired, I missed something,” Ibenge said in an exclusive interview with Canal+ as translated from French

[perfectpullquote align=”full” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””] “I may have had a stroke I think. I was really tired, after this trip, I was at the end of everything. I had time to rest (before the start of A FCON) but I was tired. It’s the truth.”   [/perfectpullquote]

Ibenge had been combining roles as national team manager and AS Vita coach for five years, which at one time confessed it was challenging.

The much-travelled gaffer went on to break ground for African coaches by being appointed as Shanghai Shenhua coach and taking the club from virtually bottom to top of the standings.

Three years before the last Africa Cup of Nations, Ibenge helped the Leopards become champions of CHAN- a tournament which is only open to footballers who play in their own local leagues.