–Welcomes Govt’s Decision; Set up In-House Investigation Committee
The President of the Liberia Football Association (LFA) Mustapha Raji said the LFA has taken full responsibility for the disqualification of Liberia’s under -17 national team from the regional West Africa Football Union (WAFU) tournament.
Addressing a news conference Saturday October 8, 2022 President Raji described the situation as unfortunate nothing that they are heart broken and promised to put in place corrective measures to avoid the relapse of said situation.
As part of practical steps in said direction, The LFA, has with immediate effect constituted a three-member committee to investigate the matter and report to the proper authority soon.
The committee headed by Saye Adolphus Dolo, Cllr. Joseph Kollie and Dr. John Mulbah who will begin work immediately and report in two weeks.
Mr. Raji at the same time stressed that the LFA welcomes the decision by the Government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports to conduct its own investigation into the matter and assured them that the Football House is willing and prepared to fully cooperate with the investigation.
“We remain open and will take note from the review relative to the root cause of the situation in order to prevent future recurrence”, he further emphasized.
According to President Raji, they will implement any recommendation that will come out of their in-house investigation team.
Meanwhile, the U-17 team has returned to the country after their disqualification for fielding two over-aged players in violation of the rules of the tournament.
Gov’t Blames LFA for U-17 Disqualification from WAFU Tourney; Independent Investigation Under
Minister of Youth and Sports D. Zeogar Wilson
It can be recalled, the Minister of Youth and Sports D. Zeogar Wilson blamed the Liberia Football Association (LFA) for the under -17 national football team’s disqualification from the ongoing West Africa Football Union (WAFU) tournament in Mauritania.
The LFA is the official manager of the National Team and is under clear mandate to take care of the team in all capacities, he said.
Minister Wilson argued at the time that the LFA did not do proper due diligence with the players as they claimed especially as manager of the National Team.
“Parents proper reliance of the players information including national Identification Cards are still not enough “, he maintained.
Speaking further, he disclosed that the LFA did not officially ask the Government of Liberia for support to do pre-MRI test for the players.
Even though, the LFA say, they did due diligence with the parents of the players and also signed a consent form in order to avoid the issue, the situation now was not avoided as two players of the team were disqualified which automatically disqualified the entire team under the rules of the tournament.
According to him, the situation is very embarrassing, totally unacceptable, describing it as a complete negligence on the part of the care taker of the National Team, the LFA.
The LFA, he emphasized will be held accountable for the embarrassing situation including all those involved into the matter after the full scale investigation shall have been concluded, Minister Wilson stated.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday October 4, 2022, Minister Wilson pointed out that due to the seriousness, the Government attaches to the issue, a full scale investigation into the matter will be launch soon.
The committee according to Mr. Wilson will be headed by the Liberia National Olympic Committee boss, Philipbert Brown while two representatives from the Sports Writers Association of Liberia (SWAL) including other persons of interest will form a part of the investigation.
He told reporters that serious action will be taken against all those involved into the matter.
The Youth and Sports Boss assured the public that the investigation will be transparent and that the outcome of the investigation will be made public to avoid the recurrence of said issue.
“We will consider the outcome and recommendations from the committee to ensure we avoid the recurrence of said embarrassing situation”, he noted.
Meanwhile, the investigation team is expected to begin week soon and will release report to the general public in two months.
LFA President Mustapha Raji
It can also be recalled, the President of the Liberia Football Association, (LFA) Mustapha Raji announced in a news conference on Monday, October 3, 2022 that Liberia U-17 team at the WAFU Championship in Mauritania have been disqualified.
Raji told a news conference that the decision was reached by the organizers after it was reported that two of our players failed MRI Test (Test conducted to estimate age).
A statement from the organizers read, “The African Football Federation has decided to exclude Liberia selection from the U-17 UFOA-A Tournament in accordance with Article 27.4”.
Raji flanked by two of his deputies in Prof. Sekou Konneh and EC Jodie Seton told reporters that arrangements are now being made with the airline so that the team return on Wednesday or Thursday.
The information came after the team were preparing to take on their Mauritanian counterparts on Monday night.
The LFA boss spoke at a press conference where he briefed journalists on the recent FIFA projects Inspectors visit to Liberia.
