The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has called off Sierra Leone’s back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches with Ghana.
Caf said the matches were cancelled as Sierra Leone did not meet conditions for the lifting of the Fifa-imposed suspension of the country’s FA.
African football’s governing body has also confirmed that the matches will not be rescheduled.
However Caf is yet to clarify whether the games will be awarded to Ghana.
It also added that it will decide on Sierra Leone’s final two qualifiers against Kenya and Ethiopia at a later date.
“For the two last qualifying days for the Total African Cup of Nations 2019, the Caf Executive Committee will decide in due course depending on the Federation of Sierra Leone statement,” Caf wrote in an e-mail.
Fifa acted because sanctions imposed on the SLFA President Isha Johansen and General Secretary Christopher Kamara.
They have denied any wrongdoing and Fifa demanded their reinstatement.
Caf said the games had been “cancelled as SLFA did not meet the conditions stipulated in the letter sent by Caf on Fifa’s decision to suspend the federation”.
On Tuesday, Fifa rejected a request by the SLFA – signed by Isha Johansen in her capacity as President – to lift the suspension imposed last week.
The request was made after an emergency meeting of SLFA and sport ministry officials – featuring both excluded officials – which was aimed at trying to convince Fifa to rescind the ban.
But Fifa’s basic demand that the President and General Secretary be reinstated has not been met, leading to the cancellation of the matches.
BBC
