Madagascar U23

Egypt, 2019, semi-finals: three matches into a tournament they had never before entered, and Madagascar were still standing, having beaten Nigeria to the top of their group and put out Democratic Republic of Congo on penalties in the quarter-final.

The nickname belongs to the zebu on Madagascar's coat of arms, and it is shared with the senior team above this one — the same badge, the same green, white and red drawn from the national flag. What separates this side is its purpose: a body assembled under FIFA and the Confederation of African Football's age rules rather than born on a founding date. Reports of the Barea U-23 turning out in friendlies go back to March 2011, against Réunion, which is as far back as any record of the team reaches.

No Olympic tournament has followed the 2019 run — 2016, 2020, 2024 all passed without Madagascar involved — and the current campaign is a qualifying one, for the 2028 Games, played through the CAF U-23 Cup of Nations qualifiers. A goalless draw with Comoros in September marked the latest instalment of a fixture Malagasy football now calls the Derby de l'Océan Indien, the two nations having spent recent years as the region's strongest sides, with Comoros closing a gap that once ran clearly in Madagascar's favour.

Home matches are played in Antananarivo, at a ground rebuilt and reopened in September 2021 with capacity taken from 23,000 to around 40,000 — the stage still waiting for a run to match 2019.