Paynesville City – Deputy Minister of Sports, G. Andy Quamie has refuted the claim made by Liberia Football Association(LFA) president, Mustapha Raji that the dugout seat is one of the prerequisites that would deny the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex from being banned.
By Jaheim T. Tumu- [email protected]
The SKD stadium is yet to be approved by the Confederation of African Football (Caf) ahead of a crucial match African Cup of Nations Qualifier against South Africa in March.
The SKD stadium was previously banned after its failed Caf’s licensing requirements and Liberia played her home matches in FIFA World Cup qualifier in Ghana and Morocco respectively.
At the start of the Afcon qualifier for Ivory Coast 2023 which was pushed to 2024, Liberia played her first home match in a 2-0 defeat against Morocco at the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca when the government was carrying out a renovation to fulfil Caf’s Licensing requirements.
Lone Star needs four points to realistically secure her spot in the finals in neighboring Ivory Coast.
But Liberia Football Association president Mustapha Raji, appearing on the OK FM Morning Rush on Thursday, February 16, confirmed that the stadium has not been approved by Caf.
He said the stadium is likely to be banned if the dugout seats which is one of the major requirements are not procured.
According to him, the LFA has indicated to the Ministry of Youth and Sports about the dugout seats and they are working on it.
He disclosed that the amount to procure 44 pieces of the dugout seats is in the tone of $27,000.00 to 30,000.00 USD
Said Raji, “We collected all of the additional information requested by CAF to send videos and photos of the bathroom. We forwarded that.”
“There is an issue we hope will not penalize Liberia for, which is the issue of the dugout seats that are missing from the stadium. We do not have dugout seats to host the substitutes when the matches are ongoing. We do not have that, what we have is not up to the standard of CAF and FIFA Licensing procedure.”
He added, “These are things that were pointed out during the licensing procedure but we are hoping that it will not be used to disqualify the stadium.”
“I am sure that the Ministry is working, the government is working to ensure that we have it . The photos have been sent. If CAF is not convinced, they will dispatch an independent team to come and validate. It is something that the Ministry is working on. We pointed it out already.”
Minister Quamie in an exclusive interview with FrontPage Africa claimed that CAF was specific in the communication that was sent and there was no information as it regards dugout seats in their email.
According to him, the email received highlighted the issue of sanitation for which the LFA license manager Mohammed Sheriff conducted the inspection, and pictures and videos were sent to CAF.
Minister Quamie who indicated that nobody at the LFA can make the decision on the approval, said every information of the SKD was sent to CAF and they are waiting for clearance which will determine whether Liberia will play home or not.
“I have the email, and the CAF email there was nothing about the substitution bench, they were talking about the sanitation condition of the stadium and those sanitation conditions were worked on Sheriff has sent that information to CAF. We are waiting for their clearance,” Minister Quamie said.
Adding, “Mr. Mustapha Raji received the same email that I am speaking of, there is nothing in that email from CAF that speaks about bucket seat or substitute bench.”
“Whatever regarding this stadium has been sent to CAF. We are waiting for their result as to what to expect, rather we will play South Africa at home or we will be asked to select an alternative venue.”