adminTen players from the Eritrean football team have refused to return home after playing a World Cup qualifying match in Botswana and are now seeking asylum there, officials say.
The men were detained by police after deciding not to board their plane.
They are reported to have refused to go home despite the intervention of the Eritrean ambassador in Botswana. There have been a number of mass defections by Eritrean athletes in recent years.
One of the most noticeable was in 2013, when Uganda granted asylum to 15 Eritrean players and their team doctor after they absconded at the end of a football tournament.
A senior official at the Botswana Football Association says it has yet to establish why the players refused to leave with their team-mates.
However, a report in the Botswana newspaper The Voice said that the players were distressed about the prospect of joining the Eritrean army and wanted to seek asylum despite being persuaded not to by the ambassador. The newspaper reported Botswana Football Association vice president
Basadi Akoonyatse as saying that the Eritrean players were found missing from their hotel rooms early on Wednesday morning by team officials.
“A report was made to the police who spotted them loitering around Francistown. — BBC Sport
Online Reporter
Bongani Ndlovu