DR Congo faces 21-day isolation demand before World Cup entry

DR Congo faces 21-day isolation demand before World Cup entry

The United States has told DR Congo’s national football team it must complete a 21-day isolation period before it will be permitted to enter the country for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, following a confirmed outbreak of Bundibugyo Ebola in the country. Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, said the requirement has been communicated directly to FIFA, the Congolese government, and the team itself, and that failure to maintain the quarantine bubble would put the squad’s participation at risk.

The Congolese squad is currently based in Belgium, where it is preparing for two warm-up matches. Giuliani stated that the team must maintain the integrity of its bubble without interruption for the full 21 days before it would be cleared to travel to Houston for its opening fixture on June 17. He added that any additional personnel joining the group would need to be kept in a separate bubble, and that any symptomatic individual could jeopardise the entire delegation’s entry. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention separately announced that all foreign nationals who had been in Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan within the preceding three weeks would be barred from entering the United States for 30 days. Enhanced Ebola screening has been introduced at American airports for travellers arriving from those three countries.

The Bundibugyo outbreak in Congo, a rare strain of the Ebola virus, was confirmed last week and is thought to have killed more than 130 people among nearly 600 suspected cases. The CDC has been monitoring two American doctors quarantined in Europe after potential Ebola exposure, and Giuliani said there have been discussions about dispatching staff to Belgium to assess the Congo team’s compliance. Congo cancelled a planned public farewell event and a three-day domestic training camp in response to the situation.

Congo is placed in Group K and opens its World Cup campaign against Portugal in Houston on June 17, before facing Colombia in Guadalajara on June 23 and Uzbekistan in Atlanta on June 27. Whether the squad can fulfil those fixtures will depend on its ability to maintain an unbroken quarantine in Belgium for the required period – a condition Giuliani described as non-negotiable.