La Paz – The Bolivian delegation, after their match in Venezuela corresponding to the fifteenth matchday of the South American qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup, suffered a significant delay in their return home. The flight, which was initially scheduled to depart, was delayed for more than twelve hours without a clear official explanation.
Bolivian sports media present in Maturín, Venezuela, captured images of the national team and its leaders, showing the situation they experienced at the airport and later at the hotel, where they were forced to return around midnight on Friday as the charter flight back to Bolivia was not allowed to take off.
The Bolivian coach, Óscar Villegas, expressed his concern to the media, mentioning the precedent of the Peruvian national team, which faced a similar situation in Venezuela.Villegas revealed that a week ago they contacted Bolivian government authorities and Venezuelan diplomats to request their intervention and avoid treatment similar to that of Peru. The coach regretted the situation, indicating that “these things lead to nothing good.”The coach accused that the detention was intentional, suggesting that the goal was to harm Bolivia in view of their next match against Chile.Carlos Pino, coordinator of National Teams of the Bolivian Football Federation (FBF), reported that they were informed that “there is no authorization and that international flights are suspended.” Pino regretted the situation, highlighting that the national team’s flight was the only international one at that moment.We feared something like this would happen
Óscar Villegas, Bolivia’s coach
After a delay of more than twelve hours, the Bolivian national team was finally able to depart from Maturín this Saturday. It is expected to arrive in Santa Cruz at 16:00 local time (20:00 GMT), and then move on to La Paz.
President Luis Arce, a political ally of the Venezuelan government, reported that Deputy Foreign Minister Elmer Catarina was in charge of managing the return of the national team.Bolivia lost to Venezuela by 2-0 in a crucial match for both teams seeking a place in the World Cup. After this defeat, La Verde remains in eighth place in the standings with 14 points, while Venezuela occupies seventh place with 18.
In the next matchday, Bolivia will host Chile in El Alto, and Venezuela will visit Uruguay.
