8 S. Sudan football players test positive for Covid-19 ahead of Arab FIFA tournament

South Sudan's players, in AMS jerseys, celebrate after defeating Somalia during the first round African Nations Championship qualifying football match. Photo: ALBERT GONZALEZ FARRAN/AFP/Getty Images

By Garang Malak

Juba,

At least eight football players in South Sudan’s national tested positive for Covid-19 at the weekend, ahead of their FIFA Arab Cup Tournament, the country’s football association said.

In a tweet shared by South Sudan Football Association on Sunday, the governing body said the Bright Stars players were confirmed positive for Covid-19 in Qatar’s capital Doha as they prepared for their first match with Jordan.

“South Sudan National Team and the Delegation on the Mission to represent South Sudan in Doha underwent Covid-19 test, at least eight of the players and one technical staff were tested positive and immediately isolated as per the precautionary measures applied.

“Meanwhile, six more players who had contact with the infected players were put under surveillance. The delegation will undergo another test today (Sunday) before tomorrow's match,” reads the tweet from SSFA.

South Sudan’s Football Association President Francis Amin wished the players a quick recovery as he encouraged the rest of the team to be resilient even in the face of the bad news.

The 2021 FIFA Arab Cup is scheduled to be the 10th edition of the Arab Cup and the first edition organised by FIFA.  

The matches will take place at six Qatar 2022 tournament venues, some of which have hosted top-level football in recent months while others are in the final stages of construction.

The 23 nations participating in the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 are: Qatar (host nation), Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen.