White House Mandates 21-Day Isolation for Congo's World Cup Team

The White House has imposed strict quarantine requirements on the Democratic Republic of the Congo's national football team ahead of the 2026 World Cup, which begins June 11 in Houston.

Andrew Giuliani, head of the World Cup Committee at the White House, stated in comments to ESPN that the Central African nation's squad must observe a 21-day isolation period before arriving in the United States. The team, currently based in Belgium for training, began its quarantine on Friday to meet this deadline.

"Any additional players joining the roster must be kept in a separate isolated bubble away from the main squad," Giuliani explained. He emphasized the risks of non-compliance, noting that symptomatic players arriving at the tournament could jeopardize the entire team's participation in the competition.

In a statement to Agence France-Presse, Giuliani characterized the White House position as encouraging the team to shield its players from unnecessary viral exposure while maintaining the integrity of its health protocols.

The Congo's training base will be located in Houston, where the team is grouped with Portugal, Colombia, and Uzbekistan. The squad faces Portugal on June 17 in Houston, followed by a June 23 match against Colombia in Guadalajara, Mexico, and a June 27 encounter with Uzbekistan in Atlanta.

The quarantine directive comes amid an ongoing Ebola outbreak in the eastern regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The World Health Organization has issued an international health alert—its seventeenth for this outbreak—as the virus spreads rapidly through the country. Health authorities have documented 82 confirmed cases and 7 deaths, with the WHO assessing the national-level epidemic risk as very high.