DR Congo at risk of missing 2026 World Cup
DR Congo could be barred from the World Cup if the team fails to comply with strict isolation requirements before travelling to the United States.
The African side are scheduled to arrive in Houston, Texas on June 11, ahead of their tournament opener against Portugal six days later.
The squad have been instructed to observe a 21-day isolation period before arrival due to an ongoing Ebola outbreak in the country. This means their training bubbles must already be in place and maintained throughout their pre-tournament preparations in Belgium.
Executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, Andrew Giuliani, has warned that failure to maintain the protocol could result in the team being excluded from the tournament.
He said the United States has already engaged with FIFA, the DR Congo national team, and government officials regarding adherence to the bubble arrangements in Belgium, where the squad is currently based for their training camp.
Giuliani told ESPN: “We’ve been very clear to Congo that they should maintain the integrity of their bubble for 21 days before they can then come to Houston on June 11th,
“We’ve made it very clear to the Congo government as well, that they need to maintain that bubble or they risk not being able to travel to the United States.
“We cannot be any clearer.”
He also stressed the seriousness of the health measures surrounding the tournament, adding:
“We want to make sure that there is nothing that’s going to come in or near our borders here on this.”
He continued:
“If there are other people who are going to be coming in, they need to have a separate bubble from that team.
“If they end up coming, and any of those people end up symptomatic, they are risking the entire team being able to come and compete in this World Cup.”
Despite the warning, a spokesperson for the Democratic Republic of the Congo national team has confirmed that their pre-World Cup friendly matches against Denmark and Chile will still go ahead as scheduled.
However, the situation appears to clash with the strict isolation directive, as the squad is expected to remain within a controlled bubble in Belgium and Spain during the same period they have been instructed not to break containment.
The team are due to face Denmark in Liège on June 3, before travelling to Cádiz to take on Chile six days later.
According to Reuters, a team official said: “We have kept our training programme. No player in the squad has come from DR Congo. The friendly matches are still scheduled. The only modification to the programme has been the cancellation of the Kinshasa leg.”
Originally, the squad had also planned a celebratory visit to Kinshasa ahead of what would be their first World Cup appearance in 52 years, but that trip has now been cancelled earlier in the week.
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المصدر: Vanguard (NG)