Amputee Lone Star’s superstar, Morilai R. Boakai, has extended his contract with the Turkish club Konya Engelliler Gucu Amputee FC. The Liberian international’s new contract will run from 2023 to 2025.
Konya Engellier Gucu is a top-flight Turkish amputee football club. Boakai joined Konya on February 12, 2022, from LASA FC, a leading Liberian amputee football club. Morilai represented Liberia in two Amputee Nations Cups in Angola and Tanzania with the Lone Star Amputees team, earning him his first professional contract in Turkey.
He scored four goals and produced two assists as Liberia finished in 3rd place during the 2019 Amputee Nations Cup held in Benguela, Angola. However, hosts Angola defeated Nigeria 2-0 in the grand final. In the 2021 Nations Cup in Tanzania, he scored once and provided seven assists as Liberia finished as the runner-up to Ghana.
At the 2022 Amputees World Cup held in Istanbul, Turkey, Morilai R. Boakai scored eight goals and produced two assists as Liberia finished 17th in the overall ranking of Amputee football. His goal tally placed him in 3rd place for the Golden Boot race, setting a new record for the Liberia national team. He became the first Liberian amputee player to score four goals in a single match at a World Cup. These goals came against Ireland Republic, resulting in Liberia’s 6-3 victory.
Morilai was born to a Sierra Leonean father and a Liberian mother but chose Liberia over Sierra Leone. He is remembered as one of the best Liberian amputee players based on statistics with both clubs and country. Boakai also scored the only goal as Liberia beat Sierra Leone 1-0 at the Invincible Sports Park in Monrovia in an international friendly before the 2022 Turkey World Cup.