DR Congo footballers ordered to isolate before World Cup due to Ebola outbreak

DR Congo beat Jamaica to secure their spot at the 2026 World Cup (Picture: Getty)

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s World Cup squad have been told to isolate for 21 days before their entry America due to the deadly Ebola outbreak in the country.

The DR Congo squad are currently training in Belgium after World Cup build-up events and training camps in Kinshasa were cancelled.

But executive director of the White House task force for the World Cup, Andrew Giuliani has informed Fifa, as well as the team, that they must remain in a ‘bubble’ at their current training base.

Speaking to ESPN, Giuliani said: ‘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.

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‘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.’

The US’s public health agency has banned entry from non-Americans who have been in the DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days, in response to the Ebola outbreak.

But all of DR Congo’s squad, as well as their coach, Sebastien Desabre, were already based out of the counry, predominantly in Europe.

Newcastle United striker Yoane Wissa is one of DR Congo’s key players (Picture: Getty)

‘If there are other people that are going to be coming in, they need to have a separate bubble from that team,’ Giuliani added.

‘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.’

On Friday, the the World Health Organization (WHO). raised the public health risk from the Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo from ‘high’ to ‘very high’.

Fans of DR Congo could face difficulties reaching America due to the outbreak (Picture: Getty)

So far, the outbreak, a rare species of Ebola known as Bundibugyohas, has resulted in 177 suspected deaths and 750 suspected cases.

A few team officials arrived at the training camp in Belgium from the DRC earlier this week, but a team spokesperson insisted that there will be no changes to their pre-tournament schedule.

‘We have kept our training programme. No player in the squad has come from DR Congo,’ the official said.

The team were due to play a friendly against Denmark in Belgium, on 3 June and another against Chile in Spain, six days later, before travelling to north America.

They will then will take on Portugal, Colombia and Uzbekistan in the group stage of the tournament.

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