Matthieu Epolo
Squad number 21 · Standard Liège
Their 2026 World Cup
Matthieu Epolo travelled to the 2026 World Cup with DR Congo, wearing number 21, without ever getting on the pitch. His side played 4 matches (1 win, 1 draw and 2 defeats) and bowed out in the round of 32, beaten by England 2-1.
The goalkeeping job went to L. Mpasi (4 matches, 360′).
Another 4 players in the DR Congo squad ended up the same way, without a single minute. The full run is on the DR Congo team page.
Biography
Matthieu Epolo Luka (born 15 January 2005) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Belgian Pro League club Standard Liège. Born in Belgium, he plays for the DR Congo national team. Epolo first became known to international football audiences for keeping six clean sheets in his first eight games of the 2024–25 Belgian Pro League season, making him the most successful goalkeeper for shutouts in the top-20 ranked European leagues.
Club career Epolo began playing football at KVK Wemmel and later FC Brussels. Epolo came through the youth academy of RSC Anderlecht, moving to Standard Liège at the age of 14 in June 2019. He made his professional debut on 26 August 2022 in the shirt of SL16 FC, the newly-launched Standard reserve team playing in the second-flight Challenger Pro League for the 2022–23 season. He started SL16's third match of the season against FCV Dender EH, and ultimately shared game-time with SL16's other main goalkeeper Tom Poitoux, who played 19 games to Epolo's 18.
Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0) · text adapted from the article.
See all the tournament stats on the World Cup data hub.