The Democratic Republic of Congo’s soccer squad has scrapped their World Cup preparation activities at home because of the ongoing Ebola outbreak, moving their training operations to Belgium instead, according to a team representative.
The national team had originally scheduled a public training session for fans and a farewell event with the nation’s leader Felix Tshisekedi on Monday before heading to the World Cup tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
But U.S. health officials have implemented travel limitations due to the disease outbreak, forcing the team to alter their plans, the representative explained to Reuters.
The U.S. CDC has banned entry for individuals without American passports who have visited DR Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within the past 21 days.
This means all team personnel currently in DR Congo must depart the nation by Thursday to gain unrestricted access to the United States. The squad expects to reach the U.S. on June 10 or 11.
Team manager Dodo Landu minimized the impact of the scheduling adjustment.
“The change is not very big, because we only had three days in Kinshasa,” he stated to RFI. “We will just maintain the program in Belgium, the event on May 25 will take place in Brussels instead of Kinshasa.”
During the World Cup, the team will establish their base in Houston, Texas. The complete roster, which was revealed on Monday, consists entirely of players competing for clubs outside DR Congo, with most playing in European leagues.
The Texas Department of State Health Services announced Wednesday they are “working closely with the CDC, FIFA, and local health departments to ensure the health and safety of the teams, spectators, and all Texas residents.”
DR Congo will face Portugal in their opening World Cup match in Houston, followed by a game against Colombia in Guadalajara, and conclude their group stage against Uzbekistan in Atlanta.
As of Wednesday, the Ebola outbreak in DR Congo has produced 600 suspected cases and 139 suspected deaths.
