Players of the South Sudan’s national football team were on Wednesday shocked to find their welcome party at the Juba International Airport had no logistics in place for them.

The Bright Stars, who returned from Ethiopia as undefeated champions of their Group C table in the CECAFA Senior Challenge Cup, were received by hundreds of fans at the airport.

The Stars who held down Sudan in their two games were finally knocked out of the tournament in the Quarter finals by penalties from rival Sudan. They had earlier defeated Djibouti and guest team, Malawi.

Over radios and online, South Sudanese and foreign nationals expressed their satisfaction with how the boys played throughout the 2 weeks in Ethiopia.

Many turned up at the airport on their own to welcome the team. However, neither the government nor the Football Association had arrange a bus or a decent transportation means to pick up the national team.

Instead, family members and friends transported their own, while the rest –without personal transportation- were crammed behind an open land cruiser and taken to their respective homes in Juba.

HIJ has also learned that not the whole squad came to Juba. About 9 players who traveled from Khartoum for the games never got a return ticket to Juba.

They were reportedly told by the football association that there was no money or accommodation for them in Juba.