The United States has confirmed it will ensure that the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s football team can enter the country to play in the 2026 FIFA World Cup, making a special exemption to an Ebola-related entry ban.
A senior Department of State official, speaking on condition of anonymity, stated clearly that “We expect the DRC team to be able to attend the World Cup.”
The move comes after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed travel restrictions against non-US passport holders who had been to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan in the previous 21 days, following a deadly Ebola outbreak.
As of last Saturday, 246 suspected Ebola cases and 80 suspected deaths had been reported in a region of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The US official noted that the DR Congo team, the only one among the three affected countries to have qualified for football’s premier event, had already been training in Europe and may therefore not have been subject to the ban in any case.
However, for players who recently travelled from DR Congo, the US government said they would instead undergo strict medical screening and isolation procedures similar to those required for returning American citizens and permanent residents.
“We’re working to get them into the same protocol for testing in isolation that American citizens returning and permanent residents would be,” the official said.
The official was clear, however, that the exemption would not extend to ordinary fans from DR Congo looking to travel to cheer on their team.
The Congolese side, popularly known as the Leopards, secured qualification for the FIFA World Cup for only the second time in their history, having previously appeared at the tournament in 1974 when the country competed as Zaire. The team is expected to camp in Houston ahead of their opening Group K fixture against Portugal on June 17.
The World Health Organization has declared the Ebola surge an international health emergency, warning about the scale and speed of the outbreak, which has no available vaccine or therapeutic treatment for the Bundibugyo strain responsible.