AC Léopards de Dolisie

AC Léopards were born in 1953 in Dolisie, the third city of the Republic of the Congo, in the heart of the Niari department, and their founders included a photographer, Nimmy Tsaty, who ran the club for over two decades. The Fauves of Niari spent decades in the shadow of Brazzaville's giants until colonel Rémy Ayayos Ikounga's arrival as president in 2008 changed everything: an era of championships and cups followed and, above all, the November night in 2012 when the Léopards beat Djoliba of Mali in the CAF Confederation Cup final to become the first Congolese club ever to lift a continental trophy, a fairy tale that took an inland city to the top of Africa. The star on the crest tells that story.