Monrovia-The Liberia Football Association First (LFA) Division National League resumed over the weekend with lots of surprises, but the biggest of all hit Fassell FC, whose coach Ivan Minnaert was prevented from the touchline.
By Christopher C. Walker 0777898224/0886723075 [email protected]
The LFA, hours after the Fassell away game to Mighty Barrolle, informed the club that their coach was not qualified to stand on the line.
According to the competition department of the LFA, Coach Minnaert who guarded Fassell to the top of the table during the first phase, had issues with his coaching papers.
To the surprise of the fans, players, administrators of Fassell FC, the football house indicated that it was established that the document sent wasn’t a coaching license as required and he would not be allowed to coach until the actual license is submitted.
A communication dated January 5, 2025 at 12:17 PM three hours to the kickoff of Fassell match with Barrolle said “FC Fassell, we acknowledge receipt of your document submitted. However, this document is not the Coaching License as required. Therefore, he is NOT ALLOWED to Coach until the actual license can be submitted,”
The decision to prevent Minnaert appeared to have proved costly for Fassell as they lost to Mighty Barrolle 4-3, their first defeat of the season.
The Fassell coach had to communicate with his players from out of the touchline as he was seen instructing his boys in the stadium.
Speaking to the media following his team’s defeat, Ivan said it was so disappointing for him and his team.
“The Liberia Football Association sent an email to the Spanish Federation on January 2nd to verify if my license was valid and that email should’ve been sent on December 2nd.
“On that date, a lot of people are off, they should’ve sent it a long time ago. You know with Christmas and the end of the year a lot of people go on holiday and especially in Spain, today even there it is a bank holiday for the 3 kings (one of the main bank holidays in Spain.
“Moreover, I sent my License verification letter from the Spanish Federation to the Liberia Football Association on Friday and tried reaching out to them for further notice but unfortunately, everyone’s phone was switched off. This isn’t normal.
“They couldn’t answer my calls but were able to send an email 3 hours before our game that I was not allowed to stand on the sidelines yesterday.
“My License is a UEFA Pro License, it’s valid all over the world, including Africa. It’s the highest coaching license in the world. I’m seeing their comments saying it’s only valid in Spain they don’t even know about the License”.
Ivan Minneart has served as head coach in Rwanda, Mali, Libya, South Africa and Kenya.
But it’s finally in Liberia where he encountered difficulties in documentation issues, FrontPageAfrica gathered.
Ivan holds a UEFA Pro Licence, the highest football coaching qualification. He received the UEFA Pro Licence in 2012 from the Football Association of Spain according to information.
The situation has left fans and pundits wondering while the FA will at this time impose such restrictions on Ivan who led his team during the first phase.
One may wonder why at this time the LFA is coming out with such restrictions when he was eligible to coach during the first phase of the league.
“The problem we have in Liberia is when we see somebody doing something good for the Liberian people, we always criticize that person or say things that you don’t know about that person.,” a fan said.
“Liberia’s problem is spiritual. Someone gets a Master degree document then you are asking for a high school paper…” Moses Kolleh.
“Raji wants to get at Cassell by all means, so he’s going the wrong way and forgetting to know that we live in a modern world now. Social media has made everything possible for anyone to check up on. Get at Cassell and leave the coach out of it cuz, you don’t have any proving evidence against his license,” Alex Freeman wrote on Facebook.
Fassell FC is a club owned by Anthony Cassell Kouh, who has openly declared his intentions to contest the 2026 Liberia Football Association election as president.
In recent times, there has been serious competition between Cassell Kouh and Mustapha Raji for the presidency.
The LFA rejected a cash offer from Cassell to the female U17 team as his way of identifying with the team.
Raji said the LFA couldn’t accept such money without knowing the source of his money.
With such tough decisions on the Soccer Missionaries, the big question now is, can it be termed as a witch-hunt or is the LFA Competition department exercising the rule of Law?