Réunion

Reunion 2023 Home

Now here’s quite the shirt! They certainly leaned in hard on the French theme, you shan’t forget who owns the island in a hurry. Strong use of red and white on the blue shirt leads to a lot of French flags if you look for them! The wavy dotted patterns from red to white (and therefore arguably creating 2 more flags) makes for a very visually appealing front to the shirt, and the LRF logo is superb, with us also getting the flag in too. Label Sports potentially get a little greedy with 2 logos, and quality isn’t great, but Réunion have a solid shirt here.

Used in the 2023 Indian Ocean Island Games, La Réunion would have a thoroughly uninspiring start. A 0-0 draw with fellow French islanders Mayotte left them needing a result against Comoros, with the subsequent 1-1 draw sending them and their opponents through on goals scored. 2 goals either side of half-time allowed them to dispatch Mauritius 2-1 but a penalty deep in extra time would lose them the final against the hosts, Madagascar. They failed to defend their title, but once more proved their mettle against FIFA opposition.

Primarily active in the Indian Ocean, from the original Triangulaire, against Madagascar and Mauritius, from 1947-1963 (in which they did poorly) they are active these days in the Indian Ocean Island Games against a slightly broader range of opposition. They’ve also taken 5 titles from 11 games and made a further 4 finals, so have thoroughly made their mark. Sadly, they’re yet to participate in COSAFA or CAF competition. They did, however make every Coupe de l’Outre-Mer final, only losing the 2010 edition on penalties. Their women’s side has had limited activity, taking part in the 2000 African Women’s Championship and the 2015 Indian Ocean Island Games as hosts, the only women’s tournament there to date (Madagascar in 2023 withdrew it). For the former they beat Kenya on walkover and then edged Egypt 5-4 over 2 legs. A 3-0 opening loss to South Africa was followed up by them surrendering 1-0 leads twice to Uganda and Zimbabwe with them not returning since. With three 3-1 victories, they were fairly comfortable taking home the title in 2015.

Previously surprisingly active at youth level, Réunion attempted to qualify for 4 U20 AFCONs and 3 U17 editions. The U20s were active in 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2009 while the U17s were in 2007, 2009, 2011 and withdrew in 2013. The U20s twice came close against Madagascar before beating Mozambique in 2009 only for South Africa to thrash them 8-2. The U17s grabbed a win in every campaign, with 2011 seeing them fall 3-1 in the final qualifying stage. They also played in 2010 in the women’s U20 qualifiers, thrashing Madagascar 7-2 before South Africa swept them aside in turn 6-3.

Very quiet since the change in CAF leadership, there’s limited evidence to even suggest they are still associate members. Expect to see them every 4 years at the Indian Ocean Island Games but, strong as they are, they seem thoroughly frozen out.