Guinea Forced to Play Home Matches Abroad Amid Ebola Outbreak
Guinea’s national football teams are set to play their upcoming home matches away from home due to concerns over the Ebola virus outbreak. Despite the senior Syli national team’s recent victory over Togo in the Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, fans in Guinea have been deprived of watching their team on home soil this September.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has relocated all of Guinea’s scheduled home matches to Morocco as a precautionary measure to prevent the spread of Ebola. This decision affects both the senior team and the Guinean cadets, who are due to face Togo in the first leg of the final qualifying round of the Under-17 African Cup of Nations, taking place on Sunday, September 14, 2014.
The move has been met with frustration by Guinea’s sports officials and supporters. Domani Doré, Guinea’s Minister of Sports, voiced his concerns during an interview on Espace FM, highlighting the negative impact of the relocation on the national teams and their fanbase.
“The time has now come to make arrangements with the federation so that CAF understands that Guinea has passed the threshold of total stigmatization. We can now host our matches and this is the most urgent thing so that the national team can benefit from the support of its public,” Doré said.
CAF has set a deadline of September 15 to reassess the situation, depending on developments in Guinea’s fight against the Ebola epidemic. The football governing body will then decide whether the country will be allowed to host matches in Conakry again.
For now, the Syli Cadets will play their qualifier against Togo in Morocco, continuing the challenging circumstances Guinea’s football teams face due to the ongoing health crisis. The relocation underscores the broader social and sporting disruptions caused by the Ebola outbreak across West Africa.
