- By: Mohamed L. Bah
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The Director of Competitions at the Sierra Leone Football Association has disclosed to this Press that the SLFA has registered the country for the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers.
This comes after an engagement form was sent to all FIFA Member Associations including Sierra Leone to register their National Teams for the world’s biggest football showpiece.
According to Sorie Ibrahim Sesay, they have completed the form and have sent it back to FIFA and football’s world governing body has confirmed that Sierra Leone has officially registered for the qualifying series which start later this year.
“It is our obligation to register Sierra Leone for any international tournament despite the suspension by FIFA. We are hopeful that the current holdup of Sierra Leone would be lifted before the draw in two months’ time”, Sorie added.
Sierra Leone was suspended by FIFA last October from international football because of government interference in the running of the country’s football association. This was after the country’s Anti- Corruption Commission barred two leading SLFA officials from the governing body’s offices.
The ACC says that, under Sierra Leone law, both SLFA President Isha Johansen and Secretary General Chris Kamara must vacate their posts until their case on corruption-related charges concludes. Both officials have denied any wrongdoing.
“The entire suspension hinges on the court matter. If the case is concluded today, we will inform FIFA and they will determine our fate, no matter the outcome of the court’s ruling.”
“The ACC case has dragged in court for too long and has been a problem to us as an association because we have been thrown out of most of the competitions we had engaged in including the ongoing 2019 African Cup of Nations Qualifiers”
“We are appealing to the Judiciary to fast track and quickly conclude the matter so that Sierra Leone will not miss out on the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers as well as the 2021 Nations Cup Qualifying series.”
The Director of Competitions in the Sierra Leone Football Association Sorie Ibrahim Sesay noted that the World Cup draw takes place in June and Sierra Leone will not be included in the process if its suspension is not lifted in time.
He said if the country misses out on these key international tournaments they will be in a funny position to the world and local players will not have the chance to showcase their God-given talents to the world.
“Now the Sierra Leone Premier League is playing which is good for our players and the country, but if the suspension is not lifted our clubs will not take part in the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup competitions. So the court really needs to speed up this case so that FIFA will quickly lift our suspension.”
The Sierra Leone Government last year engaged FIFA to lift the suspension but to no avail. FIFA says it will wait for the completion of the trial before further measures can be considered including the lifting of the suspension by the Bureau of the FIFA Council, if deemed appropriate.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification process will be a series of tournaments organized by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the Tournament, with Qatar qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 FIFA member associations are eligible to enter the qualifying process with the exception of Sierra Leone.
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