By: Precious Miracle Kargbo
In a surprising development, the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) has announced that the country’s U17 National Team has been disqualified from the upcoming WAFU U17 tournament.
This decision comes after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) informed the federation that five of the team’s players failed the mandatory Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) age screening conducted in Senegal ahead of the tournament.
The SLFA expressed deep regret over this turn of events, noting that the team had previously undergone pre-tournament MRI screening at EcoMed Advanced Medical Diagnostics in Freetown, where all members of the squad had passed the tests.
This same procedure had been used successfully during the team’s previous participations in the 2020 and 2022 tournaments in Senegal and Mauritania, where they achieved a 100% pass rate.
In response, the SLFA immediately launched an official appeal, requesting the names and scan results of the players identified as failing the MRI tests. The federation has also requested a possible retest to ensure the accuracy of the results. Recognizing the importance of fairness, the SLFA has presented the pass results from the preliminary tests conducted on the full squad in Sierra Leone prior to their departure for the tournament.
“The SLFA remains committed to ensuring fair treatment for our national team and will pursue all avenues to resolve this matter transparently,” the statement read. “We assure the public that we are doing everything within our power to seek clarity and justice for our team.”
Conclusively, further updates are expected as the SLFA continues to engage with CAF on this issue.