The Democratic Republic of Congo have cancelled a pre-World Cup event in the Central African nation over an Ebola outbreak.
The announcement wipes out a three day camp in the country’s capital, Kinshasa where members of the team were scheduled to host a farewell event with fans in attendance before flying out to compete in next month’s World Cup. Team spokesman Jerry Kalemo confirmed to the Associated Press.
A rare form of Ebola known as Bundibugyo has killed 300 people and infected over 600 people at the time of writing with the World Health Organization describing the outbreak as concerning.
Due to the development, The Leopards will now focus on competing in international friendly games against Denmark in Belgium on June 3 and Chile in Spain on June 9.
DR Congo will compete at the group stage in this year’s World Cup in Group K with Portugal, Colombia and Uzbekistan.
The game against Colombia will take place in Mexico while games against Uzbekistan and Portugal will take place in Atlanta and Houston respectively.
FIFA is also monitoring the situation with the Ebola outbreak with football’s governing body stating,
“FIFA continues to work with all three FIFA World Cup 2026 host countries’ governments, including the US Department of State, CDC and Department of Homeland Security, Mexico’s Secretariat of Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada, as well as with the World Health Organization, to ensure a safe and secure tournament.”
