Caf confirms Ghana AFCON qualifiers with Sierra Leone cancelled

Caf confirms Ghana AFCON qualifiers with Sierra Leone cancelled
Source: JoyOnline
October, 10th 2018 - 10:22AM

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has called off Ghana’s back-to-back 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying games with Sierra Leone. 

Caf said the matches will not take place because Sierra Leone did not meet conditions aimed at lifting the Fifa-imposed suspension of the country's FA.

Fifa acted because of 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. It is not immediately clear if the move means permanent disqualification from the race to Cameroon 2019 for Sierra Leone - or what the consequences are for the other teams in the group, Ghana, Ethiopia and Kenya.