May 5, 2021
By: Mohamed Abu Conteh & Stom Koroma
The Sierra Leone Football Association has on the 30th April 2021 confirmed in a Press released that the President of FIFA Gianni Infantino and CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe will pay a one-day visit to Sierra Leone upon the invitation of the Sierra Leone Football Association President Madam Isha Johansen.
Upon accepting the invitation, President Infantino remarked that,” It will be a unique opportunity to share our vision of football and the ways to further develop our game in your country and promote its values”.
Gianni Infantino, a European football administrator was elected as FIFA president in 2016 in a bid to restore the world governing body’s reputational damage overseen by his predecessor and faced an uphill task to overhaul Fifa’s battered reputation.
The visit of both Presidents, pundits say, will be a landmark event in the history of Sierra Leone Football, as this is the first time in the country’s history for a sitting FIFA president to visit the country.
It seems Sierra Leone has recently been the destination for FIFA officials, a Few days ago the FIFA scribe Madam Fatouma Samura was here in Sierra Leone as she was invited by the Football Association to serve as a guest of honor during the Official Opening of the Kenema Artificial turf, other FIFA officials were also in the country for separate interventions.
It is expected that with these connections Sierra Leone is having with both FIFA and CAF, and more importantly the visit of the two Presidents of both world and Africa football it will be a turning point for Sierra Leone.
The press release continued that both Presidents have been scheduled to meet with the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone His Excellency Brigadier (Rtd.) Julius Maada Bio. It is not clear as to what exactly they will discuss, but with the SLFA’s elections around the corner, that and the development of sport in the country will not be far from the expected topics to discuss.
A meeting with the football family is also a possibility.
Both FIFA and the CAF delegation are expected in Liberia after their visit here in Sierra Leone.
Meanwhile, before his trip to Sierra Leone, the FIFA Boss will on Tuesday, May 4th, give an important announcement in Abidjan, which will focus in particular on the Pan-African inter-school championship.