The Congolese soccer team has been forced to cancel World Cup buildup events in Kinshasa due to the Ebola virus outbreak and will instead continue preparations in Belgium, a team spokesperson said.
The squad had planned to hold a training session open to fans as well as a send-off ceremony with the country’s head of state Felix Tshisekedi on Monday as they prepare for the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
However, travel restrictions imposed by the U.S. CDC in response to the outbreak have made it necessary to change those plans, the spokesperson told Reuters.
The CDC has prohibited the entry of non-U.S. passport holders who have been in Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the previous 21 days.
All members of staff from the team based in Congo are therefore required to have left the country by Thursday in order to be allowed into the U.S. unrestricted. The team plan to arrive in the U.S. on June 10 or 11.
Team manager Dodo Landu played down the change to the team’s schedule.
“The change is not very big, because we only had three days in Kinshasa,” he told RFI. “We will just maintain the program in Belgium, the event on May 25 will take place in Brussels instead of Kinshasa.”
The team will be based in Houston during the World Cup. The entire playing squad, which was announced on Monday, is based at clubs outside of Congo, most of them in Europe.
The Texas Department of State Health Services said on 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.”
Congo plays the first game at the World Cup against Portugal in Houston before taking on Colombia in Guadalajara and wrapping up its group campaign against Uzbekistan in Atlanta.
As of Wednesday, there were 600 suspected cases in the Ebola outbreak and 139 suspected deaths in Congo.s
