Congo's national team will not play in Málaga and will contest match against Chile in France

The Congo national football team will not play its friendly match against Chile in Málaga, Spain, as initially planned. Instead, the team will travel to France to contest the game. The match was relocated after the municipality of La Línea de la Concepción cited "health prudence" as the reason for not authorizing it, referencing the Ebola outbreak in the African nation.

The Congolese team, which had been training in Marbella, Málaga, as part of its World Cup preparations, confirmed the move to France via its X account. The Chilean team has also arrived in France for the Tuesday match, having previously played a friendly in Portugal against the Portuguese national team.

Marbella had been considered as a potential venue for the match, to be played behind closed doors, after La Línea de la Concepción's prohibition. However, the game will now take place in France. The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo had previously stated that the Spanish authorities' decision to cancel the match could be considered discriminatory.

The 'Leopards,' as the Congolese national team is popularly known, played their first friendly match last Wednesday in Liège, Belgium, against Denmark. The Congolese Football Federation (FECOFA) confirmed two weeks prior that the national team was observing the 21-day isolation period required by the United States for entry to participate in the World Cup. The tournament, which Congo is co-hosting with Mexico and Canada, is scheduled for June and July, following the Ebola outbreak declaration on May 15.

The 'Leopards' canceled their training sessions in Kinshasa before traveling to Belgium. Kinshasa has not registered any Ebola cases and is approximately 2,000 kilometers from the northeastern province of Ituri, the epicenter of the epidemic. This upcoming World Cup appearance will be the Congolese team's return to the global tournament after a 52-year absence. They are grouped in Group K alongside Portugal, Colombia, and Uzbekistan.

“

could constitute discrimination