A friendly match pre-World Cup, between Chile and DR Congo, was set to take place next week, on June 9, in La Línea de la Concepción, Cádiz, but the mayor of the municipality south of Spain, Juan Franco, decided to cancel the match due to fears of the Ebola outburst in the African country, officially declared as epidemic by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Speaking to radio station COPE, Franco said that he took the decision after a recommendation by health authorities of the region of Andalusia, and after seeing that the documentation submitted by organisers was insufficient. "We are talking about a pandemic, I believe quite serious, in Africa . I don't think there is even a vaccine yet to be developed for it, and we felt that the most sensible thing was for the match not to be held".
Chile did not qualify for World Cup 2026, but the Democratic Republic of Congo did, for their second time ever, after participating in the 1974 edition of the competition, when they lost all group stage matches. DR Congo qualified after defeating Jamaica at the play-offs last March.
The Congolese players have been training and living in Belgium since before the outbreak started, so the risk of any of them bringing the virus is almost zero, but "the documentation provided to us left some doubts regarding the health and safety guarantees that could be provided for this match". United States has strict travel bans for any non-Americans who have been in DR Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan, but the players will be allowed to enter the country and will play group stage matches against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal, Colombia, and Uzbekistan, in matches in Houston, Atlanta (USA), as well as Guadalajara (Mexico).