{"id":779,"section":"sports","section_label":"Sports","url":"https://www.brokenews.co/sports/779","headline":"Three Zambian NWSL players stuck abroad under Ebola re-entry rules","dek":"Barbra Banda, Racheal Kundananji and Prisca Chilufya face a required quarantine after playing for Zambia in Uganda, keeping them out of multiple league games.","body":"Three NWSL players are stuck in limbo after representing Zambia in a recent international window, unable to rejoin their U.S. clubs because of government health protocols tied to the Ebola outbreak in East Africa.\n\nOrlando Pride's Barbra Banda, Chicago Stars' Racheal Kundananji and Angel City's Prisca Chilufya all featured for Zambia in an Oct. 8 match in Uganda. Under current U.S. re-entry rules for travelers from the region, they are now required to complete a 21-day quarantine before returning to the country.\n\nThe NWSL confirmed the situation in a statement Friday, saying the players are \"observing U.S. government public health re-entry protocols required for travelers returning from the East African region.\" The league added that it is working with its clubs and U.S. immigration officials to sort out the players' return, and stressed that all three are in excellent health.\n\nWith the quarantine period running close to three weeks, each player is expected to miss several weeks of NWSL action for their respective clubs while the process plays out.","published_at":"2026-10-17T05:34:53.087177+00:00","source_count":3,"written_from":[{"outlet":"The Athletic","publisher":"The Athletic","title":"Zambia players to miss multiple NWSL games due to CDC's Ebola travel restrictions","url":"https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7697428/2026/10/16/zambia-nwsl-ebola-travel-restrictions-cdc/"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Zambian NWSL players must wait to return from international duty","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/zambian-nwsl-players-must-wait-000550247.html"},{"outlet":"ESPN","publisher":"ESPN","title":"Zambia players to miss several NWSL games due to Ebola travel restrictions","url":"https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/50197744/nwsl-players-zambia-uganda-travel-restrictions-ebola-banda"}],"more_coverage":[{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"NWSL's Zambia internationals to miss action due to US CDC restrictions","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/nwsls-zambia-internationals-miss-action-220850199.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Zambia women's national team players to miss NWSL games while undergoing Ebola travel restriction protocols","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/soccer/article/zambia-womens-national-team-players-to-miss-nwsl-games-while-undergoing-ebola-travel-restriction-protocols-001539808.html"},{"outlet":"Yahoo Sports","publisher":"Yahoo Sports","title":"Zambia players to miss multiple NWSL games due to CDC’s Ebola travel restrictions","url":"https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/zambia-players-miss-multiple-nwsl-003104902.html"}],"image":null,"embed":null,"license":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/","attribution":"Analysis data is licensed CC BY 4.0. Credit brokenews and link to the story page you took it from. Source headlines, story titles taken from a source headline, and quoted passages remain the property of their publishers and are quoted for comparison, not licensed onward.","terms":"https://www.brokenews.co/about#reuse"}