More Eritrea players go missing

More Eritrean players appear to have absconded from national team duty to seek asylum after seven were unaccounted for following the country’s participation in the CECAFA Cup in Uganda.

The seven were missing from the group of players that returned from making a final appearance at the East African regional tournament, where they lost 3-0 to their hosts.

“The information I have is that seven of them escaped,” CECAFA spokesperson Rogers Mulindwa was quoted by the BBC.

“We have already notified the police, the Federation of Uganda Football Associations and the embassy. We are working closely to locate them and I think we shall get them. They may not have Christmas in Uganda.”

It is a second incident this year after five players went missing during the CECAFA Under-20 Challenge Cup in October, which was also held in Uganda.

It is by no means an isolated incident as Eritrean players have taken the opportunity to flee abroad on a number of occasions.

In 2015, 10 players refused to return to Eritrea following a World Cup qualifier in Botswana, while two years earlier 15 players and the team doctor were granted asylum by Uganda after the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup that year.

And most alarmingly, the entire squad absconded after a tournament in Kenya in 2009, leaving only the coach and one other official to return home.