( CNN ) -- Kenyan police are searching for 12 members of the Eritrean national soccer team who failed to return home after competing in a regional tournament in Nairobi , a spokesman said Monday . The missing players make up nearly half the 25 players and coaches Eritrea sent to the Cecafa Cup , a tournament for nations from east and central Africa . Team organizer Nicolas Musonye alerted police when only 13 team members departed after the tournament finished Sunday . None of the 12 missing has a visa to remain in Kenya , national police spokesman Eric Kiraithe said . `` The men were last seen on Sunday after the tournament ended , '' Kiraithe said . `` They had requested a police escort to and from the stadium for the game , but had some free time after the game and absconded from their hotel . '' Kiraithe said the men were likely to be found soon . `` Being players who we have escorted during the tournament , it is not like they are unknown to us . The possibility of them [ successfully ] hiding themselves from us is very limited , '' he said . The Eritrean government originally denied the absence of any players . But Information Minister Ali Abdu told the BBC on Tuesday they would get a `` good welcome '' on return despite `` betraying '' their country , which human rights groups have called increasingly repressive . The Eritrean team lost in the Cecafa Cup quarter-finals , with returning champions Uganda winning the two-week event . Musonye said it was not the first time Eritrean players have tried to avoid returning home : A similar incident occurred during the 2006-7 tournament in Tanzania . `` For the next Cecafa Cup , we have decided to have a police escort for the Eritrean team for the whole duration , '' Musonye said . Police have received no requests for asylum from the men , and unless they have proper visas , they will be sent back to Eritrea when found , Kiraithe said . The Refugee Consortium of Kenya , a nonprofit organization that gives free legal aid and representation to asylum seekers and refugees , would not comment to CNN . But an official speaking on condition of anonymity told the Canadian Press that 12 players had sought their help , and their case for asylum would be presented to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees . Eritrea is under the rule of President Isaias Afwerki , whose government has imprisoned critics and exerted increasingly authoritarian controls over the economy , media and religion , according to U.N. reports and human rights organizations . The United States accuses Eritrea of arming Islamic insurgents who are trying to topple Somalia 's U.N.-backed transitional government . Eritrea denies the allegation , but Uganda , which leads an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia that has taken heavy casualties during the insurgency , has sought U.N. sanctions against the Eritreans as a result . Eritrea won independence from Ethiopia in 1993 , and the two countries fought a two-year border war in the late 1990s . Eritrean forces also clashed with troops from neighboring Djibouti in 2008 . CNN 's Ben Wyatt in London contributed to this report .
Players will seek asylum , refugee group tells the Canadian Press . Players fail to rejoin rest of team in Eritrea after tournament . Human rights groups say Kenya has become increasingly repressive . A similar incident occurred during the 1993 edition of the regional Islamic soccer event .