By Chernor Alimamy Kamara
The Sierra Leone male national football team, Leone Stars has been paired with the 2024 African Cup of Nations (AFCCON) defending Champions Ivory Coast, together with Zambia and Chad.
The qualifiers will start in September 2024 and end in November 2024. The winners and runners-up in the 11 groups that do not involve tournament hosts Morocco, will gain qualification to the competition.
The TotalEenergies AFCON will be held from 21 December 2025 to 12 January, 2026.
Ivory Coast and Sierra Leone have played 6 matches so far, where the Ivorians won 3, drew 3, with Sierra Leone yet to register a win against them. The most recent thrashing of Leone Stars by the Elephants (5-1) came in a 2024 AFCON preparation match.
Many football loving fans have expressed frustration over the fact that the national team will again not be hosting home matches at the National Stadium that is still under renovation.
The team has recently been playing its home matches in Morocco far away from home, which limits the chances of many fans going to support the team. Some supporters are calling on the Sierra Leone Football Association, the Ministry of Sports and the National Sports Authority for the team to be playing their home matches in either neighboring Guinea or Liberia, that are closer to home.
In Group A, Tunisia are drawn alongside Madagascar, Comoros and Gambia whilst the host Morocco are placed in Group B together with Gabon, Central Africa Republic and Lesotho.
This year’s groupings seem different to previous ones as household names in African football were seen separated in the various groups so as to avoid any “group of death.”
The top sides are mostly seeded to avoid clashing. Egypt are in Group C, Nigeria in D, Algeria in Group E, Ghana Group F, Cote d’Ivoire in Group G, DR Congo and Guinea in H, Mali in Group I, Cameroon J, South Africa in K and Senegal Group L. Full details of the various groups will be published in our next edition.
Copyright © 2024 Politico (10/07/24)
