Al-Hilal SC coach Florent Ibenge forced to flee Sudan

The Congolese mentor's home is in the middle of where the conflict began in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum - he lived in between the presidential palace and the airport that had earlier been taken by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) paramilitary group.

"We could hear gunfire¦ I was in disbelief," he told the BBC. "I first managed to get my assistant goalkeeping coach out of the area.

"Then a Burundian couple got in touch with my wife, asking if they could come over because fighters had entered their home.

"They had forced their way into his house and put a gun to his head while he was with his wife and his four-month-old baby.

"It was horrible. They stayed there for three days before they got an opportunity to escape.

"He finally managed to call my wife and we told them to come straight away. When he arrived, he didn't even sit down, he slumped down there for hours. It was really horrible."