2026 FIFA World Cup Faces Ebola Outbreak And Extreme Heat Threats

A soccer enthusiast uses a hand-held spray bottle with a fan attached to cool off in the hot Chicago weather. The man is attending the 1994 World Cup in Chicago's Soldier Field. (Photo by © Ralf-Finn Hestoft/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images) Corbis via Getty Images Amid an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the country’s national team squad will begin preparations for the World Cup in Belgium rather than Kinshasa, their capital.

Although the World Health Organization has called the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" rather than a pandemic, the global football community is mindful of the impact it could have. Back in 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, a UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool and Atletico Madrid was identified as a superspreader event, whilst organizers of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar feared that people might not travel to the country. The U.

S. has already restricted travelers from the DR Congo, though the country’s overseas-based national team players won't be affected. Still, any fans who travel from the central African nation will be, which means that it will have to be diaspora communities that give support to a team that is appearing in the World Cup for the first time since 1974 .

Such public health issues and the logistical challenges they pose are indicative of the risk landscape that organizers of the tournament are now having to confront. Successfully delivering sport mega events is logistically complex and requires a level of vigilance to risk that is both sophisticated and, ideally, action oriented. Concerns have been raised that in parts of southern U.