The Réunion national football team () is the regional team of the French overseas department and region of Réunion and is controlled by the Ligue réunionnaise de football, the 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 FIFA 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.
History
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.
Latest squad
The following players were selected to the squad for the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games.
Caps and goals updated as of 28 July 2019, after the match against Mauritius.
Records
:Players in bold are still active with Réunion.
Most appearances
thumb|200px|[[Jean-Michel Fontaine is Réunion's most capped player and top scorer.]]
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!width=30px|Rank
! style="width:200px;"|Player
!width=50px|Caps
!width=50px|Goals
! style="width:100px;"|Career
|-
| 1
|align=left| Jean-Michel Fontaine
| 29
| 15
| 2007–present
|-
| 2
|align=left| Gérard Hubert
| 27
| 1
| 2003–2015
|-
| rowspan=2|3
|align=left| William Mounoussamy
| 24
| 1
| 2003–2015
|-
|align=left| Gaël Payet
| 24
| 0
| 2003–2012
|-
| 5
|align=left| Johan Lionel
| 22
| 0
| 2005–2012
|-
| 6
|align=left| Éric Farro
| 21
| 9
| 2002–2012
|-
| rowspan=3|7
|align=left| Bertrand Bador
| 18
| 0
| 2010–present
|-
|align=left| John Elcaman
| 18
| 1
| 2002–2011
|-
|align=left| Sébastien K'Bidy
| 18
| 0
| 2011–present
|-
| 10
|align=left| Nicolas Hoarau
| 15
| 1
| 2005–2011
|-
|}
Top goalscorers
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!width=30px|Rank
! style="width:200px;"|Name
!width=50px|Goals
!width=50px|Caps
!width=50px|Ratio
!width=100px|Career
|-
| 1
|align=left| Jean-Michel Fontaine
| 15
| 29
|
| 2007–present
|-
|2
| align="left" | Éric Farro
| 9
| 21
|
| 2002–2012
|-
| rowspan=2|3
| align="left" | Bernard Lacollay
| 7
| 9
|
| 1993–2002
|-
| align="left" | Mamoudou Diallo
| 9
| 9
|
| 2008–2011
|-
| rowspan=4|5
| align="left" | Quentin Boesso
| 4
| 6
|
| 2008–2015
|-
| align="left" | Mickaël Vallant
| 4
| 6
|
| 2011–2012
|-
| align="left" | Henri-Paul Ah-Yane
| 4
| 9
|
| 1979–1986
|-
| align="left" | Willy Visnelda
| 4
| 13
|
| 2005–2011
|-
|rowspan=3|9
| align="left" | Eric Bacco
| 3
| 3
|
| 1998
|-
| align="left" | Mohamed El Madaghri
| 3
| 7
|
| 2011–2012
|-
| align="left" | Jean Hugues Tossem
| 3
| 8
|
| 1983–1988
|-
|}
Competitive record
Indian Ocean Island Games
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!colspan=10|Indian Ocean Island Games record
|-
!Year
!Round
!Position
!
!
!*
!
!
!
|- style="background:gold;"
|style="border: 3px solid red"| 1979
|Champions
|1st
|4
|4
|0
|0
|20
|2
|- style="background:silver;"
| 1985
|Runners-up
|2nd
|3
|2
|1
|0
|14
|4
|-
| 1990
|Group stage
|5th
|2
|0
|1
|1
|0
|1
|- style="background:silver;"
| 1993
|Runners-up
|2nd
|4
|3
|0
|1
|5
|1
|- style="background:gold;"
|style="border: 3px solid red"| 1998
|Champions
|1st
|4
|3
|1
|0
|10
|3
|- style="background:silver;"
| 2003
|Runners-up
|2nd
|4
|3
|0
|1
|7
|2
|- style="background:gold;"
| 2007
|Champions
|1st
|4
|1
|3
|0
|2
|1
|- style="background:#c96;"
| 2011
|Third place
|3rd
|4
|2
|0
|2
|4
|5
|-style="background:gold;"
|style="border: 3px solid red"| 2015
|Champions
|1st
|4
|4
|0
|0
|8
|1
|-style="background:gold;"
| 2019
|Champions
|1st
|5
|4
|0
|1
|10
|2
|- style="background:silver;"
| 2023
|Runners-up
|2nd
|4
|1
|2
|1
|3
|2
|-
!Total
!5 Titles
!11/11
!42
!27
!8
!7
!83
!24
|}<!-- Do not add rows for future tournaments that will not happen within the next 12 months -->
Triangulaire
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!colspan=10|Triangulaire record
|-
!Year
!Round
!Position
!
!
!*
!
!
!
|- style="background:#c96;"
| 1947
|Third place
|3rd
|2
|0
|0
|2
|3
|6
|- style="background:#c96;"
| 1948
|Third place
|3rd
|2
|0
|0
|2
|2
|7
|- style="background:#c96;"
|style="border: 3px solid red"| 1949
|Third place
|3rd
|2
|0
|0
|2
|1
|9
|- style="background:silver;"
| 1950
|Runners-up
|2nd
|2
|1
|0
|1
|5
|17
|- style="background:#c96;"
| 1951
|Third place
|3rd
|2
|0
|0
|2
|3
|13
|- style="background:#c96;"
|style="border: 3px solid red"| 1952
|Third place
|3rd
|2
|0
|0
|2
|0
|7
|- style="background:#c96;"
| 1953
|Third place
|3rd
|2
|0
|0
|2
|8
|15
|- style="background:silver;"
| 1954
|Runners-up
|2nd
|2
|1
|0
|1
|6
|13
|- style="background:#c96;"
|style="border: 3px solid red"| 1955
|Third place
|3rd
|2
|0
|0
|2
|3
|7
|- style="background:#c96;"
| 1956
|Third place
|3rd
|2
|0
|0
|2
|5
|12
|- style="background:silver;"
| 1957
|Runners-up
|2nd
|2
|1
|0
|1
|1
|1
|- style="background:#c96;"
|style="border: 3px solid red"| 1958
|Third Place
|3rd
|2
|0
|0
|2
|1
|5
|- style="background:silver;"
| 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
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!colspan=10|Coupe de l'Outre-Mer record
|-
!Year
!Round
!Position
!
!
!
!
!
!
|-style="background:gold;"
|2008
|Champions
|1st
|3
|3
|0
|0
|9
|1
|- style="background:silver;"
|2010
|Runners-up
|2nd
|4
|3
|1
|0
|14
|1
|-style="background:gold;"
|2012
|Champions
|1st
|4
|3
|1
|0
|16
|3
|-
!Total
!Champions
!3/3
!11
!9
!2
!0
!39
!5
|}
Head-to-head record
- Last update: 7 May 2011 1–3
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center"
|-
!width=220|Opponent<br />
!width=100|Pld<br />
!width=70|W<br />
!width=70|D<br />
!width=70|L<br />
!width=100|GF<br />
!width=100|GA<br />
!width=120|GD<br />
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 6 || 4 || 1 || 1 || 13 || 3 || 10
|- bgcolor="#FFFACD"
|align=left| || 2 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 5 || -2
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 3 || 2 || 1 || 0 || 3 || 0 || 3
|- bgcolor="#FFCCCC"
|align=left| || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 3 || -3
|- bgcolor="#FFFACD"
|align=left| || 2 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 3 || 3 || 0
|- bgcolor="#FFCCCC"
|align=left| || 3 || 0 || 0 || 3 || 2 || 7 || -5
|- bgcolor="#FFCCCC"
|align=left| || 21 || 3 || 4 || 14 || 30 || 53 || -23
|- bgcolor="#FFCCCC"
|align=left| || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 2 || 8 || -6
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 2 || 2 || 0 || 0 || 18 || 0 || 18
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 2 || 1 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1
|- bgcolor="#FFCCCC"
|align=left| || 35 || 7 || 9 || 19 || 39 || 101 || -62
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 4 || 3 || 1 || 0 || 12 || 4 || 8
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 2 || 2|| 0 || 0 || 7 || 3 || 4
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 11 || 0 || 11
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 15 || 12 || 1 || 2 || 30 || 10 || 20
|- bgcolor="#FFFACD"
|align=left| || 1|| 0 || 1 || 0 || 1 || 1 || 0
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 1
|- bgcolor="#CCFFCC"
|align=left| || 1 || 1 || 0 || 0 || 2 || 1 || 1
|- bgcolor="#FFCCCC"
|align=left| || 3 || 0 || 1 || 2 || 3 || 5 || -2
|- class="sortbottom"
! Total || 106 || 41 || 20 || 45 || 181 || 207 || –26
|}
Honours
Regional
- Indian Ocean Island Games
- Gold medal (5): 1979, 1998, 2007, 2015, 2019
- Silver medal (4): 1985, 1993, 2003, 2023
- Bronze medal (1): 2011
- Indian Ocean Games Triangulaire
- Runners-up (4): 1950, 1954, 1957, 1963
- Third place (9): 1947, 1948, 1949, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1958
Friendly
- Coupe de l'Outre-Mer (2): 2008, 2012
References
External links
- Official site – Réunion Island Football Association
- Réunion at CAF
- Réunion at FIFA