By Kemoh Sesay
The Sierra Leone Football Association Isha Johansen faction (SLFA-J) has announced the pending commencement of its FA Cup tournament after a seven year break in the contest.
Abu Bakarr Kamara, head of SLFA-J media team, told politico that the northern provincial headquarter of Makeni will play host to the tournament that is slated to commence on March 5. He said preparation was ongoing as they were expecting between 170 and190 teams to take part in the competition nationwide.
Kamara said Leocem, the cement factory, would be the sole sponsor of the tournament. He however declined to reveal the total sponsorship package but said it was estimated to be around Le 500 million leones. This, he added, will include prize money for the champions, runners-up, and third and fourth place winners.
The FA spokesman said they were starting the FA cup because they wanted football to play in all regions of the country.
“Ebola has ended, it is time to play football in all regions,” he said, noting that notification had already been sent to all the District Football Associations (DFA) informing them about the development.
He said they have got positive response from some DFA officials, citing Bonthe, Bombali and Moyamba as examples.
Kamara said they were waiting for response from other districts and he cautioned that the SLFA-J would have no option but to take action against clubs that would fail to take part in the competition as stipulated in the SLFA constitution.
Meanwhile, the aggrieved parties, who belong to the Awoko faction of the FA (SLFA-A), said they would not play any tournament under Johansen’s supervision until she accounted for Le1.2 billion which they alleged she had mismanaged over the years.
The Sierra Leone FA Cup was last played in 2007, before a six-year break. It was Last played in 2014.
Below is a table of the previous winners of the tournament.
Sierra Leone FA CupWinner
- 1973 : East End Lions (Freetown)
- 1974-77 : Unknown
- 1978 : Bai Bureh Warriors (Port Loko)
- 1979 : Wusum Stars (Bombali)
- 1980 : East End Lions (Freetown)
- 1981 : Kamboi Eagles (Kenema)
- 1982 : Bai Bureh Warriors (Port Loko)
- 1983 : Mighty Blackpool (Freetown)
- 1984 : Old Edwardians (Freetown)
- 1985 : Kamboi Eagles (Kenema)
- 1986 : Real Republicans (Freetown)
- 1987 : Unknown
- 1988 : Mighty Blackpool (Freetown)
- 1989 : East End Lions (Freetown)
- 1990 : Ports Authority F.C. (Freetown)
- 1991 : Ports Authority F.C. (Freetown)
- 1992 : Diamond Stars (Kono)
- 1993 : Unknown
- 1994 : Mighty Blackpool (Freetown)
- 1995-99 : Not played
- 2000 : Mighty Blackpool (Freetown)
- 2001 : Old Edwardians (Freetown)
- 2002 : Not played
- 2003 : Kallon F.C. (Freetown)
- 2004 : Ports Authority F.C. (Freetown)
- 2005 : Old Edwardians (Freetown)
- 2006 : Unknown
- 2007 : Kallon F.C. (Freetown)
- 2008-13 : Not played
- 2014: Kamboi Eagles F.C. (Kenema) 1-1 (aet; 3-2 pen.) East End Lions F.C. (Freetown)[
(C) Politico 23/02/16
