Sierra Leone national football team

The Sierra Leone national football team represents Sierra Leone in men's international association football and it is governed by the Sierra Leone Football Association, The team's nickname is Leone stars, The team is affiliated to the West African Football Union, The team have qualified for the FIFA World Cups and they have qualified for Africa Cup of Nations twice, The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

This article is about the men's team. For the women's team, see Sierra Leone women's national football team.

Sierra Leone
Nickname(s)Leone Stars
AssociationSierra Leone Football Association (SLFA)
ConfederationCAF (Africa)
Sub-confederationWAFU (West Africa)
Head coachVacant
CaptainUmaru Bangura
Most capsKemokai Kallon (52)
Top scorerMohamed Kallon (14)
Home stadiumFreetown National Stadium
FIFA codeSLE
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 118 (16 July 2020)[1]
Highest50 (August 2014)
Lowest172 (September 2007)
First international
Sierra Leone 0–2 Nigeria 
(Freetown, Sierra Leone; 10 August 1949)[2]
Biggest win
 Sierra Leone 5–1 Niger 
(Freetown, Sierra Leone; 7 March 1976)
 Sierra Leone 5–1 Niger 
(Freetown, Sierra Leone; 3 June 1995)
 Sierra Leone 4–0 São Tomé and Príncipe  (Freetown, Sierra Leone; 22 April 2000)
Biggest defeat
 Mali 6–0 Sierra Leone 
(Bamako, Mali; 17 June 2007)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances2 (first in 1994)
Best resultGroup stage, 1994 and 1996

History

Sierra Leone's first match was at home on 10 August 1949 against another British colony, Nigeria, and was lost 2–0. In 1954 they played another British colony and British administered U.N trust territory, Gold Coast and Trans-Volta Togoland (now Ghana), and lost 2–0 away. On 22 April 1961, they again hosted Nigeria and lost 4–2. On 12 November 1966, they hosted Liberia in their first match against a non-British colony and earned their first draw, 1–1. A week later, they lost 2–0 in Liberia. On 13 January 1971, Sierra Leone played their first match against a non-African team, West Germany's B-team. The match in Sierra Leone was won 1–0 by the Germans. Sierra Leone's first match outside Africa was also their first against an Asian nation, China. They lost 4–1 in China on 5 April 1974.[3]

Sierra Leone's golden period was during the 1990s, qualifying for both the 1994 and 1996 Africa Cup of Nations. However, they were forced to withdraw from the next two editions due to the Sierra Leone Civil War.

In August 2014, the Sierra Leone FA cancelled all football matches in an effort to stop the spread of the 2014 Ebola virus epidemic in Sierra Leone, a week after the Liberian FA did the same.[4] Sierra Leonean players playing outside Sierra Leone, such as Michael Lahoud playing in the United States, were discriminated against, with opposition players refusing to swap shirts, shake hands and allow them to certain places of the stadium just because they fear that they could be carrying the disease.[5] The Sierra Leonean national team wasn't allowed to play home games and all players had to be foreign-based.[6] In October 2015, Sierra Leone suffered a surprise defeat to Chad in the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, with their home game having to be played in Nigeria. One year later, Sierra Leone very nearly qualified for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, finishing just one point behind Group I winners Ivory Coast.

On 5 October 2018, the Sierra Leone Football Association was suspended by FIFA and the Leone Stars were excluded from the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification.

Sierra Leone Football Achievements
Amilcar Cabral Cup :
  • 2 Times Champion (1993, 1995)

World Cup record
FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
1930 to 1970 Did not enter Did not enter
1974 Did not qualify 2 0 0 2 0 3
1978 4 1 1 2 8 9
1982 2 0 1 1 3 5
1986 2 0 0 2 0 5
1990 Did not enter Did not enter
1994 Withdrew Withdrew
1998 Did not qualify 2 0 0 2 0 2
2002 10 2 1 7 6 17
2006 2 0 1 1 1 2
2010 8 3 2 3 5 8
2014 6 2 2 2 10 10
2018 2 1 0 1 2 2
2022 2 1 0 1 2 3
2026 To be determined To be determined
Total 0/21 42 10 8 24 37 66

Africa Cup of Nations record
Africa Cup of Nations record
Host nation(s) / Year Round Position Pld W D* L GF GA Squad
1957Part of United Kingdom
1959
1962Not affiliated to CAF
1963
1965
1968 Did not enter
1970 Withdrew
1972 Did not enter
1974 Did not qualify
1976 Did not enter
1978 Did not qualify
1980 Did not enter
1982 Did not qualify
1984
1986 Withdrew
1988 Did not qualify
1990 Withdrew
1992 Did not qualify
1994 Round 1 13th 2 0 1 1 1 3 Squad
1996 Round 1 15th 3 1 0 2 2 7 Squad
1998 Withdrew
2000 Disqualified due to civil war
2002 Did not qualify
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2013
2015
2017
2019 Disqualified due to FIFA suspension
2021 To be determined
2023
2025
TotalFirst Round2/325113310−

Recent results and fixtures

  Win   Draw   Loss

2019
4 September 2019 (2019-09-04) 2022 WCQLiberia 3–1 Sierra LeonePaynesville, Liberia
18:00 UTC±0
Report (FIFA)
Stadium: Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex
Attendance: 25,000
Referee: Louis Houngnandande (Benin)
8 September 2019 (2019-09-08) 2022 WCQSierra Leone 1–0
(2–3 agg.)		 LiberiaFreetown, Sierra Leone
16:30 UTC±0
Report (FIFA) Stadium: Siaka Stevens Stadium
Attendance: 30,000
Referee: Jean Ouattara (Burkina Faso)
13 November 2019 (2019-11-13) 2021 AFCONQSierra Leone 1–1 LesothoFreetown, Sierra Leone
16:00 UTC±0
  • Thabantso  90'
 Stadium: National Stadium
Attendance: 0
17 November 2019 (2019-11-17) 2021 AFCONQBenin 1–0 Sierra LeonePorto-Novo, Benin
14:00 UTC+1
Stadium: Stade Charles de Gaulle

Players

Current squad

The following players have been selected for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Ethiopia on 9 September 2018.

Caps and goals as of 9 September 2018, after the game against Ethiopia.[7]

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1GK Solomon Morris (1990-06-16) 16 June 1990 20 0 Toulouse Rodéo
1GK Mohamed Kamara (1999-04-29) 29 April 1999 1 0 Johansen
1GK Alhaji Sesay (1998-10-09) 9 October 1998 0 0 Bristol City
2DF David Simbo (1989-09-28) 28 September 1989 20 0 Al-Zawra'a
2DF Mila Sesay (1987-10-22) 22 October 1987 8 0 HIFK Fotboll
2DF Abu Suma (1996-06-06) 6 June 1996 5 0 Unattached
2DF Alie Sesay (1993-07-25) 25 July 1993 5 0 Arda Kardzhali
2DF Osman Kakay (1997-08-25) 25 August 1997 1 0 Queens Park Rangers
2DF Yeami Dunia (1998-04-17) 17 April 1998 0 0 Unattached
3MF Julius Wobay RET (1984-05-19) 19 May 1984 32 4 Unattached
3MF Medo Kamara (1987-11-16) 16 November 1987 29 1 Kazma
3MF Alfred Sankoh (1988-10-22) 22 October 1988 14 0 Majees
3MF John Kamara (1994-02-28) 28 February 1994 11 1 Keşla FK
3MF Michael Lahoud (1986-09-15) 15 September 1986 4 0 San Antonio
3MF Ibrahim Conteh (1996-11-02) 2 November 1996 0 0 Detroit City
4FW Kei Kamara RET (1984-09-01) 1 September 1984 27 4 Colorado Rapids
4FW Alhassan Kamara (1993-03-16) 16 March 1993 16 4 Panetolikos
4FW Kwame Quee (1996-07-09) 9 July 1996 15 0 Víkingur Reykjavík
4FW Sheka Fofanah (1990-10-21) 21 October 1990 5 2 Al-Nasr Salalah
2DF Umaru Bangura (1987-10-07) 7 October 1987 43 4 Zürich
4FW Christian Moses (1993-08-10) 10 August 1993 4 0 Viborg FF
4FW Buya Turay (1995-08-27) 27 August 1995 1 0 Djurgården
4FW Amadou Bakayoko (1996-01-01) 1 January 1996 0 0 Coventry City

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for Sierra Leone in the last 12 months.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up

DEC Player refused to join the team after the call-up.
INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury.
PRE Preliminary squad.
RET Player has retired from international football.
SUS Suspended from the national team.

Records
As of 1 September 2019
Players in bold text are still active with Sierra Leone.
gollark: R U S T G O O D
gollark: I have a terrible Lua bundler tool which I want to minify the output of.
gollark: Oh, does anyone know of a Lua minifier written in Lua?
gollark: `\x y z -> x + y + z`I may have been spoiled by haskell.
gollark: `function(x, y, z) return x + y + z end` is loooong.

References
  1. "The FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking". FIFA. 16 July 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  2. Courtney, Barrie (15 August 2006). "Sierra Leone – List of International Matches". RSSSF. Retrieved 4 November 2010.
  3. "Sierra Leone - List of International Matches". rsssf.com. Rec. Sport Soccer Statistics Foundation. 19 November 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  4. "Sierra Leone suspends football matches as Ebola virus spreads". The Independent. 4 August 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  5. "Ebola affecting Sierra Leone team - Michael Lahoud". BBC Sport. 14 October 2014. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  6. FIFATV (14 October 2014). "The land where football is religion" – via YouTube.
  7. "Sierra Leone Team 2019". national-football-teams.com. National Football Teams.

Sources
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