Sierra Leone national football team

Sierra Leone
Nickname(s) Leone Stars
Association Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA)
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation WAFU (West Africa)
Head coach John Keister
Captain Kei Kamara
Home stadium Freetown National Stadium
FIFA code SLE
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 114 Decrease 3 (20 September 2018)
Highest 50 (August 2014)
Lowest 172 (September 2007)
Elo ranking
Current 112 Increase 2 (20 August 2018)[1]
Highest 59 (15 January 1996)
Lowest 156 (7 June 2008)
First international
Sierra Leone 0–2 Nigeria 
(Freetown, Sierra Leone; 10 August 1949)[2]
Biggest win
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone 5–1 Niger 
(Freetown, Sierra Leone; 7 March 1976)
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone 5–1 Niger 
(Freetown, Sierra Leone; 3 June 1995)
Sierra Leone Sierra Leone 4–0 São Tomé & Príncipe  (Freetown, Sierra Leone; 22 April 2000)
Biggest defeat
 Mali 6–0 Sierra Leone Sierra Leone
(Bamako, Mali; 17 June 2007)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances 2 (first in 1994)
Best result Group stage, 1994 and 1996

The Sierra Leone national football team represents Sierra Leone in international football and is controlled by the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA). The team is affiliated to the West African Football Union of CAF and they have never qualified for the World Cup.

History

Sierra Leone's first match was at home on 10 August 1949 against another British colony, Nigeria, and was lost 2–0. In 1954 they played another British colony and British administered U.N trust territory, Gold Coast and Trans-Volta Togoland (now Ghana), and lost 2–0 away. On 22 April 1961 they again hosted Nigeria and lost 4–2. On 12 November 1966, they hosted Liberia in their first match against a non-British colony and earned their first draw, 1–1. A week later, they lost 2–0 in Liberia. On 13 January 1971, Sierra Leone played their first match against a non-African team, West Germany's B-team. The match in Sierra Leone was won 1–0 by the Germans. Sierra Leone's first match outside Africa was also their first against an Asian nation, China. They lost 4–1 in China on 5 April 1974.[3]

2014 Ebola Outbreak

In August 2014, the Sierra Leone FA cancelled all football matches in an effort to stop the spread of the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in Sierra Leone, a week after the Liberian FA did the same.[4] Sierra Leonean players playing outside Sierra Leone, such as Michael Lahoud playing in the United States, were discriminated against, with opposition players refusing to swap shirts, shake hands and allow them to certain places of the stadium just because they fear that they could be carrying the disease.[5] The Sierra Leonean national team isn't allowed to play home games and all players must be foreign based.[6] In 2016 Sierra Leone entered the Grecian Shield at Exeter university on Sunday 13 March.

Sierra Leone Football Achievements

Amilcar Cabral Cup :
  • 2 Times Champion (1993, 1995)
  • 2 Times Runners-up

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA
Uruguay 1930 to Mexico 1970 Did not enter
West Germany 1974 to Mexico 1986 Did not qualify
Italy 1990 Did not enter
United States 1994 Withdrew
France 1998 to Russia 2018 Did not qualify
Qatar 2022 To be determined
Canada Mexico United States 2026 To be determined
Total0/21

Africa Cup of Nations record

Africa Cup of Nations record
Host nation(s) / Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Squad
Sudan 1957 to Ethiopia 1968 Did not enter
Sudan 1970 Withdrew
Cameroon 1972 Did not enter
Egypt 1974 Did not qualify
Ethiopia 1976 Did not enter
Ghana 1978 Did not qualify
Nigeria 1980 Did not enter
Libya 1982 Did not qualify
Ivory Coast 1984
Egypt 1986 Withdrew
Morocco 1988 Did not qualify
Algeria 1990 Withdrew
Senegal 1992 Did not qualify
Tunisia 1994 Round 1 13th 2 0 1 1 1 3 Squad
South Africa 1996 Round 1 15th 3 1 0 2 2 7 Squad
Burkina Faso 1998 Withdrew
Nigeria Ghana 2000 Disqualified due to civil war
Mali 2002 Did not qualify
Tunisia 2004
Egypt 2006
Ghana 2008
Angola 2010
Gabon Equatorial Guinea 2012
South Africa 2013
Equatorial Guinea 2015
Gabon 2017
Cameroon 2019 To be determined
Ivory Coast 2021
Guinea 2023
TotalFirst Round2/315113310−

Results and fixtures

  Win   Draw   Loss

2017

2018

2019

Players

Current squad

The following players have been selected for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Ghana on 11 & 15 October 2018. Caps and goals updated as of 15 October 2018 after the game against Kenya.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Solomon Morris (1990-06-16) 16 June 1990 19 0 France Dieppe
16 1GK Alhaji Sesay (1998-10-09) 9 October 1998 0 0 England Bristol City
17 2DF Umaru Bangura (captain) (1987-10-07) 7 October 1987 43 4 Switzerland Zürich
18 2DF David Simbo (1989-09-28) 28 September 1989 18 0 Free agent
21 2DF Osman Kakay (1997-08-25) 25 August 1997 1 0 England Queens Park Rangers
5 2DF Alie Sesay (1994-08-02) 2 August 1994 4 0 Greece Chania
12 3MF Julius Wobay (1984-05-19) 19 May 1984 18 1 Free agent
4 3MF Medo Kamara (1987-11-16) 16 November 1987 28 1 Kuwait Kuwait SC
13 3MF Alfred Sankoh (1988-10-22) 22 October 1988 13 0 South Africa Al-Jabalain
6 3MF John Kamara (1988-05-12) 12 May 1988 10 1 Kazakhstan Kaisar
7 3MF George Davies (footballer, born 1996) (1996-11-16) 16 November 1996 10 0 Latvia Riga
10 4FW Kei Kamara (1984-09-01) 1 September 1984 27 4 Canada Vancouver Whitecaps
9 4FW Alhassan Kamara (1993-01-13) 13 January 1993 15 4 Greece Panetolikos
19 4FW Mustapha Bundu (1997-02-28) 28 February 1997 0 0 Denmark Aarhus
3 4FW Mohamed Buya Turay (1995-01-10) 10 January 1995 0 0 Belgium Sint-Truiden
Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
Notes
  • DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up.
  • INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.
  • PRE Preliminary Squad.
  • RET Player has retired from international football.
  • SUS Suspended from the national team.

References

  1. ↑ "World Football Elo Ratings: Africa". eloratings.net. World Football Elo Ratings. 19 March 2018. Retrieved 19 March 2018.
  2. ↑ Courtney, Barrie (15 August 2006). "Sierra Leone – List of International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  3. ↑ "Sierra Leone - List of International Matches". rsssf.com. Rec. Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  4. ↑ "Sierra Leone suspends football matches as Ebola virus spreads". The Independent. 2014-08-04. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  5. ↑ "Ebola affecting Sierra Leone team - Michael Lahoud". BBC Sport. 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2018-06-01.
  6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVjOz-NZZdw&t=4m26s

https://web.archive.org/web/20160305221855/http://www.footballsierraleone.net/sierra-leone-to-host-the-elephants-of-ivory-coast-in-abidjan/

https://web.archive.org/web/20160405190623/http://www.footballsierraleone.net/sierra-leone-1-malawi-1-international-friendly/

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