Jean-Florent Ikwange Ibengé (born 4 December 1961) is a Congolese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who manages Sudanese club Al-Hilal.

Early and personal life

He was born in

Léopoldville Kinshasa (; ; ), formerly named Léopoldville from 1881–1966 (), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Kinshasa is one of the world's fastest-growing megacities, with an estimated population of 17 million ...

on 4 December 1961. Ibengé played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for

Tennis Borussia Berlin Tennis Borussia Berlin is a German football club based in the locality of Westend in Berlin. History The team was founded in 1902 as ''Berliner Tennis- und Ping-Pong-Gesellschaft Borussia'' taking its name from its origins as a tennis and ...

, Excelsior Roubaix,

US Boulogne Union Sportive de Boulogne-sur-Mer Côte d'Opale (commonly referred to as US Boulogne, USBCO or frequently, simply Boulogne) is a French association football club based in the commune of Boulogne-sur-Mer. The club was founded in 1898 and cur ...

and

ES Wasquehal Wasquehal Football is a French football club based in the town of Wasquehal, Hauts-de-France. The club was founded in 1924 and plays in the National 2, the fourth tier of the French football league system. History and mergers The club was foun ...

Coaching career

He spent his early coaching career in France, managing

and SC Douai. He was manager of Chinese club

Shanghai Shenhua Shanghai Shenhua Football Club () is a Chinese professional football club based in Shanghai, that competes in . Shanghai Shenhua plays its home matches at the Shanghai Stadium, located within Xuhui District. The owner of Shanghai Shenhua is ...

from April to May 2012, and of Congolese team Vita Club from February 2014. He became manager of the DR Congo national team in August 2014, combining this role with his job at Vita Club. He led DR Congo to the

2016 African Nations Championship The 2016 African Nations Championship, also known for short as the 2016 CHAN and for sponsorship purposes as the Orange S.A., Orange African Nations Championship, was the 4th edition of the biennial African association football tournament organ ...

title in February 2016. In March 2017, he announced that he intended to step down as national team manager in 2018. He resigned in August 2019. After that, he returned to AS Vita Club. In July 2021 he became manager of Moroccan club RS Berkane. In June 2022 he became manager of Sudanese club Al-Hilal Club. In November 2022, Ibenge won the Sudan Cup after Al-Hilal defeated Al Ahli Khartoum in the final winning via a 4–3 penalty shoot-out after the match had ended in a goalless draw after extra time. Following the start of the 2023 Sudan conflict, Ibengé voiced his plans to set up a base camp for Al-Hilal players in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, and expressed hopes that the team would continue to play in the

Arab Club Champions Cup The Arab Club Champions Cup (, ) is a club football competition organised by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by top clubs from the Arab world. The tournament is contested by a total of 37 teams from Asia and Africa. F ...

. In April 2023, Ibengé and his family fled to France via Djibouti.

Honours

DR Congo *

African Nations Championship The African Nations Championship, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship and commonly abbreviated as CHAN, is a biennial African association football tournament organized by the Confederation of Afri ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

African Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

third place:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

AS Vita Club *

Linafoot The Vodacom Ligue 1 is the top division of the Congolese Association Football Federation, the governing body of football in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was created in 1958. In 2013, the highest attendance was set in the match DC M ...

: 2014–15, 2017–18, 2020–21 * DR Congo Super Cup: 2015 *

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club (association football), club football competition organized by the Conf ...

runner-up:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football football team, club competition established in 2004 and organized by Confederation of African Football, CAF ...

runner-up:

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

RS Berkane *

Moroccan Throne Cup The Moroccan Throne Cup or the Throne Cup () is a knockout football tournament in Moroccan football, organized by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation.The first club to win this cup was Mouloudia Oujda. Since the inception of the cup, the sy ...

: 2020–21 *

: 2021–22 Al-Hilal * Sudan Cup: 2021–22

References