The Congo team, arriving in Equatorial Guinea for the Africa Cup of Nations, have been forced to search for accommodation because of a shortage of rooms for players and staff.

Claude Le Roy, the manager of Congo, has claimed that he and his squad, as well as his backroom staff, have found it difficult to secure a room and even when they do, they have been beset with problems, such as a lack of running water or exposed cables.

Speaking to the BBC World Service, Le Roy said: “There are not enough places for my staff and it’s even difficult to find rooms for the players. The electricity is terrible, everything is exposed. I wanted to wash my hands. There was no water. Some of my assistants went around to see if there were rooms available somewhere but it seems very, very difficult.”

Equatorial Guinea replaced Morocco as hosts of this year’s event at short notice after Morocco wanted the tournament postponed over fears of a spread of the Ebola virus. Their proposal was rejected by the Confederation of African Football, who subsequently stripped them of the hosting rights and kicked them out of the competition.

Congo, who play Equatorial Guinea in their opening game on Saturday, are based in Bata on the west coast of the country. The hosts were originally disqualified from the preliminaries in August after fielding an ineligible player.