Such punishment for being out of FIFA World Cup… Federation canceled the charter flight of Uruguay team, now how will they return to their country?

Uruguay, FIFA World Cup 2026: The Uruguay national football team has had to bear the brunt of being out of the group stage of the FIFA World Cup 2026. After a very disappointing performance in the tournament, the Uruguayan Football Association (AUF) has taken a big and tough decision and has canceled the special charter flight booked for the players and coaching staff. According to media reports, this step of the Federation has been taken due to the shocking and much earlier than expected exit from the World Cup.

Now the return will be in pieces and through commercial flights

Usually, after any major tournament, the national teams return home together on a charter flight booked by their federation. But this time the Uruguay Football Association has canceled the group flight scheduled from its base camp in Mexico to the capital Montevideo. After this decision the entire team will not return together. All footballers and staff members will now have to make individual travel arrangements via commercial flights. Some of these players will go straight to spend the holidays or return to Montevideo. At the same time, some players will leave directly to join their clubs located in Europe and other countries.

Very poor performance of Uruguay in Group-H

Two-time former world champion Uruguay, playing under the guidance of Marcelo Bielsa, was placed in Group H along with Spain, Cape Verde and Saudi Arabia. On paper, Spain and Uruguay were considered the biggest contenders to advance from this group. But the Uruguayan team failed to win in its first match against Saudi Arabia and in the second match against Cape Verde and both the matches ended in a draw.

Then the do or die match was played against Spain. That means, to reach the knockout (Round of 32), they needed to win the last match against Spain at any cost. But Spain defeated Uruguay 1-0 and completely eliminated them from the tournament. The Uruguayan team could collect only 2 points in 3 matches and stood third in its group after Spain and Cape Verde. Due to less points, they were also out of the race for the best third placed teams.