MONROVIA– Cassell Kuoh has made history by becoming the first preferred presidential nominee ahead of Chris Geeplay Weah for the Collaborating Football Stakeholders (CFS) ahead of the Liberia Football Association’s Elective Congress in 2026.
By Jaheim T. Tumu
CFS was established on June 6, 2024, following an agreement between Kuoh and Weah to set aside their differences and collaborate.
Both men with interest in the top job at the LFA, however, agreed that a preferred candidate to challenge the incumbent Liberia president, Mustapha Raji, would be determined by stakeholders through a primary.
However, Kuoh’s preference as the presidential nominee for CFS stems from a bold decision made by football stakeholders during the Al-Lounge agreement.
The gathering allowed stakeholders, made of the opposition block to come together and deliberate on their ideal candidate, resulting in Kuoh emerging as the favorable choice to head the ticket of CFS.
Addressing the media, Kuoh hailed Weah for his sportsmanship and selfless nature, lowering his ambition for the LFA president and accepting to go as vice president for administration.
He vowed to support Weah for vice president for a collective goal and development of football. Said Kuoh, “He accepted and was willing to give up his ambition that when I was away from this country, he was pushing and passionate about. He said let it go, I will support my brother (Kuoh) in order to be the frontrunner.”
Accordingly, he said football has been in a state of decline, pledging to revitalize it through the combined efforts of stakeholders and the government. He emphasized that his vision is to elevate the quality and management of the sport by implementing necessary reforms.
In his bid to lead the LFA, he promised to rebuild the national team, restoring the respect and dominance it once had, particularly during the era of the famous George Weah XI.
Kuoh stated, “We are going to participate in the Africa Cup of Nations in our first two year at the LFA. We want to see our national team back on the world stage. We want to see the team participating in the World Cup, and we want to see our national team competing in the Africa Cup of Nations again.”
He emphasized that if he and his team fail to achieve their objectives, stakeholders should vote them out of office. He, however, expressed strong confidence in the strategies they plan to implement, asserting that within an eight-year period, Liberia will qualify for the World Cup for the first time.
“We are here to change it, we know how to do it, we are winners. We believe in ourselves, we believe in our passion, we believe in our blueprint that we have for football development, he said.
Also speaking, Weah emphasized that the team is committed to achieving the change necessary to transform Liberian football, stressing that this change requires doing what is right and ensuring that Liberian football is protected.
Accordingly, Weah expressed confidence in the collaboration to achieve better results, reiterating his plans to implement the nationalization of players with Liberia leakage to ensure a strong national team.
“We have been pushing our plan on nationalization. The president (Kuoh) has his plan and we are going to have a team to set up a plan to move Liberia football forward,” he said. He added, “There is nothing impossible that we cannot change. Working together with Cassell on this team has been very selfless.”
