Figures & feats

Toifilou Maoulida, the striker with the tape strips

Born in 1979 in Kani-Kéli, in the south of Mayotte, and trained at Montpellier HSC, Toifilou Maoulida played professional football in France for twenty years, from 1997 to 2017, for ten clubs, including Montpellier, Rennes, Monaco, Marseille and Lens. He scored 164 goals in his career, including 71 in Ligue 1 and 24 in the Coupe de France, one of the best tallies in that competition in thirty years. He celebrated 99 of his goals by holding up a strip of tape, which became his trademark. Now a coach, he has turned to training young players.

El Fardou Ben Nabouhane, the captain from Mayotte

Trained at RC Barakani, El Fardou Ben Nabouhane grew up between Barakani and Passamaïnty, then left for Réunion at the age of ten, where he played for JS Saint-Pierroise. Spotted by Le Havre, he built his career in Greece and then Serbia: with Red Star Belgrade, from 2018 to 2023, he won six league titles, played in the Champions League and scored 83 goals. Captain of the Comoros, he scored the country's very first goal at the Africa Cup, against Ghana, in 2022. He retired in May 2026, at the age of 36.

Chaker Alhadhur, goalkeeper for one night

On 24 January 2022, in Yaoundé, the Comoros had to play their AFCON round-of-16 match without a specialist goalkeeper: two had Covid, the third was injured. The left back Chaker Alhadhur, formerly of Caen and Nantes, volunteered and pulled on the gloves. With a man down from the 7th minute, his team lost only 2–1 to Cameroon, the host nation. “In the world of football, it's unheard of,” he would later say. In the Comoros, some people have called him “keeper” ever since.

Youssouf M'Changama, the playmaker

Born in Marseille in 1990, Youssouf M'Changama has worn the Comoros shirt since October 2010. A midfielder feared for the accuracy of his right foot, he has some 70 caps and is one of the team's long-standing leaders. He played in both of the Coelacanths' Africa Cups, in 2022 in Cameroon and at the end of 2025 in Morocco.

Amir Abdou, the builder of the Coelacanths

A French-Comorian coach born in Marseille in 1972, Amir Abdou took charge of the Comoros national team in 2014, when it was only 198th in the world rankings. Eight years later, he led it to its first Africa Cup and on to the round of 16. He then qualified Mauritania for AFCON 2023.

Feta Ahamada, speed at the Olympic Games

A 100-metre specialist, Feta Ahamada represented the Comoros at the Olympic Games in Beijing, in 2008, and then in London, in 2012, where she was the delegation's flag bearer. In London, on 3 August, she won her preliminary-round heat in 11.81 s. A club member in the Paris region, she is one of the diaspora athletes who represent the Comoros in major competitions.

Kaïla Issoufi, world silver medallist

A 25-year-old Mahoran judoka, Kaïla Issoufi competed in her first World Championships in October 2026, in Baku, in the under-78 kg category. She beat the world number one, Germany's Anna-Monta Olek, in the semi-final, then lost in the final to Yelyzaveta Lytvynenko of the United Arab Emirates. This silver medal, France's third medal at these World Championships, crowned a season in which she had already won the Tashkent Grand Slam and bronze at the European Championships.

Nathan Kamardine, the powerchair football hopeful

From Bouéni, in the south of Mayotte, Nathan Kamardine was 18 when, in October 2026, he won his first cap for the French powerchair football team, the reigning two-time world champions, at the World Cup in Buenos Aires. In his first two matches, he scored twice against Japan (4–0) and once against Denmark (5–0). Follow the competition in the sports news.