The FIFA letter, dated 7th April, was in respect of a letter written by SLFA dated 31st March and 4th April 2008 respectively in reply to the banning of the country’s national stadium. The letter, according to the SLFA officials, was issued to the Secretariat on the 19th March this year. 

According to the letter, FIFA noted “with satisfaction that the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports has intimated an urgent plan and subsequent funding in order to fulfill the recommendation issued by FIFA on the occasion of the previous Stadium inspection in 2006 and 2007.”

SLFA officials told our correspondent in the capital Freetown that no specific date was mention in the letter for the final inspection of the stadium but FIFA indicated “of the final inspection visit of the national stadium in Freetown in due course,” adding “but we can anticipate to you it will take place in the very first days of May 2008.

FIFA’s letter further states that a couple of important items are missing from your submitted guarantees to fulfill FIFA’s recommendation, namely to strengthen or re-edify the fences and gates, pointing out that “the access from outside the stadium has to be rebuilt and the existing tribute exist that lead inside the Stadium have to be closed.”

“Please amend your list accordingly and coordinate the inclusion of these points into your work schedule”, FIFA letter urged the SLFA.

The FIFA letter also instructed the SLFA “to keep working on an alternative neutral venue by Friday 18th April 2008” adding “should the required works eventually not comply with the minimum standards established in the FIFA recommendations.”

“The stadium in Banjul is also pending a final inspection in May and this cannot be proposed as an alternative at this stage”, the FIFA letter also pointed out.

In another development, the secretariat of the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) has for the second time reminded the President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), Nahim Khadi, to facilitate the payment of US$5,000 to the three Libyan referees that officiated the match between Sierra Leone and Benin last year before CAF’s executive meeting.

According to CAF protocols, the three Libyan referees paid their air tickets amounting to US$5,000 to travel to Sierra Leone and officiated the match after which SLFA was expected to reimburse them at the end of the match, a refund that is still not forthcoming, an act described by CAF as unacceptable.