Congo’s soccer team has canceled its three-day World Cup preparation training camp and farewell to fans scheduled for the capital Kinshasa following an Ebola outbreak in eastern Congo.
Preparations will be made elsewhere in response to an outbreak of a rare type of Ebola known as Bundibugyo. killed over 130 people and caused nearly 600 suspected patients.
The World Health Organization has declared that public health emergency There is international concern.
The Congolese national team is scheduled to play World Cup warm-up matches against Denmark on June 3 in Liege, Belgium, and against Chile on June 9 in southern Spain. Both games will be played as scheduled, team spokesman Jerry Calemo told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
“There were three stages of preparation: a farewell to the nation in Kinshasa, two friendlies against Denmark and Chile in Belgium, Spain and Liège, and a third stage in Houston, USA, starting June 11. Only one stage has been canceled, the stage in Kinshasa,” Kalemo said.
All Congolese players and the team’s French coach, Sebastien Desabres, are based outside the Central African Republic, with most playing in France.
Some of the team’s staff based in Congo “will be leaving within the next few hours,” Kalemo said.
FIFA, soccer’s governing body, said in a statement: “We are aware of and monitoring the situation regarding the Ebola outbreak and are in close contact with the Democratic Republic of the Congo Football Association to ensure teams are informed of all medical and safety guidance.”
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced this week that the U.S. will ban entry to all foreign nationals who have been to Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan in the past three weeks. The ban will last for 30 days.
U.S. officials said Congo’s World Cup team is not affected by the CDC’s travel ban because it has been practicing in Europe for the past few weeks. This means team members, coaches and other personnel who have not returned to Congo in the past three weeks will not be subject to an entry ban, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the policy has not been made public.
Members of the Congo World Cup delegation who return to Congo within the 21-day period will be subject to the same quarantine requirements as U.S. citizens returning from affected countries, the official said. The exception does not apply to Congolese fans wishing to participate in the World Cup, the official said.
The White House World Cup Task Force, under the Department of Homeland Security, said it was “working closely” with various agencies on health and safety issues and that the government was “closely monitoring” the outbreak.
The Congo national team, which won the playoff tournament in Mexico and qualified for the World Cup, was drawn. Group K. They will face Portugal in the opening game on June 17th in Houston.
The Leopards will then face Colombia in Guadalajara on June 23, before playing Uzbekistan in Atlanta in their final group game on June 27.
Congo qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1974 when it was known as Zaire. It sparked scenes of joy across the country.has been battered by decades of conflict.
___ Associated Press writers Matt Lee and Seung-min Kim in Washington contributed to this report.
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AP World Cup coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/fifa-world-cup
