DR Congo Faces Risk of Missing the 2026 World Cup

The Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) faces the possibility of being barred from the 2026 FIFA World Cup if it does not adhere to strict isolation protocols before traveling to the United States.

The national team is scheduled to arrive in Houston, Texas, on 11 June, ahead of its opening match against Portugal on 17 June.

Because of an ongoing Ebola outbreak in the country, the squad has been instructed to observe a 21‑day isolation period before arrival. This requires the team’s training bubble to be established and maintained throughout its pre‑tournament preparations in Belgium.

Andrew Giuliani, executive director of the White House Task Force for the World Cup, warned that failure to keep the bubble could result in the team being excluded from the tournament.

Giuliani told ESPN: “We’ve been very clear to Congo that they should maintain the integrity of their bubble for 21 days before they can then come to Houston on June 11th.”

“We’ve made it very clear to the Congo government as well, that they need to maintain that bubble or they risk not being able to travel to the United States. We cannot be any clearer.”

He added: “We want to make sure that there is nothing that’s going to come in or near our borders here on this.”

He continued: “If there are other people who are going to be coming in, they need to have a separate bubble from that team. If they end up coming, and any of those people end up symptomatic, they are risking the entire team being able to come and compete in this World Cup.”

Despite the warning, a spokesperson for the DR Congo national team confirmed that its pre‑World Cup friendly matches against Denmark and Chile will proceed as planned.

However, the schedule appears to conflict with the isolation directive, as the squad is expected to remain within a controlled bubble in Belgium and Spain during the same period in which it has been told not to break containment.

The team is due to face Denmark in Liège on 3 June, before traveling to Cádiz to play Chile six days later.

According to Reuters, a team official said: “We have kept our training programme. No player in the squad has come from DR Congo. The friendly matches are still scheduled. The only modification to the programme has been the cancellation of the Kinshasa leg.”

Originally, the squad had also planned a celebratory visit to Kinshasa ahead of what would have been its first World Cup appearance in 52 years, but that trip was cancelled earlier in the week.

Vanguard News