Liberia extend Butler’s contract

Liberia's National Team Coach, Peter Butler

Friday Aug 28, 2020. 09:00

The Liberia Football Association (LFA) has announced an extension to the contract of national team coach Peter Butler, as reported by CAF.

Earlier in the week, LFA president Mustapha Raji revealed that the contract of the 53-year-old Englishman has been extended by a year after consultations with the country’s Ministry of Youth and Sports.

Butler, who has also managed the national team of Botswana from 2014 to 2017, first took over the Lone Star in August 2019.

He guided Liberia to victory in his debut match, a 3-1 win over Sierra Leone in a 2022 World Cup Qatar qualifier preliminary round clash at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville, Liberia.

Liberia lost the return leg 1-0 but advanced to the group stage on a 3-2 aggregate triumph.

However, he failed to steer them to the group stage of the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, after losing to Chad on penalties in the preliminary rounds.

“It was an opportunity, which really I didn’t want to turn down. So it is not a money move. I can assure you,” Butler told BBC Sport upon taking the job in 2019.

“So it is not about financial gain. It is about [the] great challenge of contributing to the rise of Liberian football.”

Liberia is expected to return to competitive football in May 2021 when Africa’s qualifiers for the next World Cup resume.