DR Congo was forced to change preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup due to the Ebola outbreak

The Democratic Republic of Congo national team has been forced to cancel its World Cup preparatory events in Kinshasa due to the Ebola virus outbreak and will instead continue preparations in Belgium, a team spokesperson said.

The team planned to hold a training session open to fans and a farewell ceremony with the country’s head of state, Felix Tshisekedi, on Monday in preparation for the World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The 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 banned the entry of non-US passport holders who have been in DR Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past 21 days.

All staff members of the DR Congo-based team must therefore leave the country by Thursday to be allowed to enter the US without restriction. The team plans to arrive in the US on June 10 or 11.

Team manager Dodo Landu downplayed the change in the team schedule.

“The change is not very big because we only had three days in Kinshasa,” he told RFI. “We will simply 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, Texas during the World Cup. The full player roster, announced on Monday, is based on clubs outside DR Congo, most of them in Europe.

The Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday that it is “working closely with the CDC, FIFA and local health departments to ensure the health and safety of the teams, spectators and all Texas residents.”

DR Congo will play its first World Cup match against Portugal in Houston before playing Colombia in Guadalajara and wrapping up its group campaign against Uzbekistan in Atlanta.

As of Wednesday, there were 600 suspected cases of the Ebola outbreak and 139 suspected deaths in DR Congo.

Published on May 21, 2026