Monrovia – The Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex has been officially commissioned following President Weah dedication of the mini-stadium and is now ready for football actions.
President George Weah on Tuesday dedicated the newly built SDK practice pitch in Paynesville and called on residents of the area to take good care of the facility to represent what it was built for.
The project is part of three projects funded by FIFA and implemented by the Liberia Football Association (LFA) worth 1.4 million United states dollars.
Speaking at the dedication ceremony, the chief patron of Sports George Weah appreciated the word governing body of football FIFA for its continuous support to develop football around the world and also thanked the LFA leadership, headed by Mustapha Raji for the leadership role at the FA.
The Liberia leader said his government committed to continue its advocacy to ensure that additional sporting facilities are developed in the country so that Liberia can host international competitions in the future.
“It was on this ground I trained to justify my inclusion on the team for Brazil. It was on this ground I trained to form part of the national team and from this ground I moved to the bigger ground behind us.”
“Today, we are here to dedicate this ground and I am pleased because the condition this ground was in. This ground produced the best player in the world, to see this ground and don’t do anything about it was saddening, but the vision to develop all of our grounds that need to be developed we had to go for special people, people that believe in sports development this why we recruited our able young people to prove the young people can do it, Mustapha Raji, Andy Quamie, Sekou Konneh the rest to lead our sports association and we happy that they have started well and is going on well,” President Weah Said.
The chief patron of Sports said he is happy that the ground that produced many good players of Liberia is now in a good condition to produce more players for the future of Liberian Football.
“I will speak with my colleagues on the continent not to impose but to appeal to them to see the need to support Liberia in a bid to host the Continent’s biggest sporting event, the Nation’s cup,” President Weah added.
“I hope the people of this community will take care of this field, they will watch it so that nobody will come and spoil it,” he said.
For his part, LFA President Raji thanked the Liberian leader for his continuous support and cooperation from the government’s sports ministry towards the development of football in the country.
He also thanked member clubs for the support and their approval of the football association’s budget that allows the association to implement its projects.
The FIFA forward 2.0, 1.0 program introduce by FIFA president Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino is gear toward the development of football for all of the members associations around the world and Liberia as a member benefit two million United States dollars over the period of four years,” Raji said.
He said the LFA remains committed toward developing facilities because they know is the dream of President Weah to create more opportunities for the young kids of Liberia to develop football and reach the level he Weah reach in international Football.
The mini-stadium comprises an artificial turf, seating capacity, dressing room and a medical room.
The SKD Practice Pitch is the second mini stadium in a week that has been dedicated by the President and he is expected to also dedicate the Dorris Williams Sports Stadium in Buchanan Grand Bassa County very soon.