Report: Eritrea national football team players seeking asylum in Botswana

Ten players from the Eritrean national football team have refused to return home after playing a World Cup qualifying match in Botswana and are now seeking asylum there, officials have said.

The men were detained by police after deciding not to board their plane, and are reported to have refused to go home despite the intervention of the Eritrean ambassador in Botswana.

A senior official at the Botswana Football Association said that it has yet to establish why the players refused to leave with their teammates.

However, a report in Botswanan newspaper The Voice claimed that the players were distressed about the prospect of joining the Eritrean army and wanted to seek asylum, despite being advised not to by the ambassador.

There have been a number of mass defections by Eritrean athletes in recent years, with Uganda granting asylum to 15 Eritrean footballers and their team doctor in 2013 after they absconded at the end of a tournament.