Sierra Leone, Benin AFCON qualifier to take place in June

by Bertin Basson

Thursday Apr 01, 2021. 10:00

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has announced that the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier between Sierra Leone and Benin will take place in June.

The ‘winner takes all’ Group L encounter failed to take place on Tuesday, March 30 at the National Stadium in Freetown due to a Covid-19 controversy.

Benin arrived at the match venue but refused to leave their bus after being told less than an hour before the scheduled kick-off time that six of their players had tested positive for the virus. After hours of deliberation, the match was eventually called off.

CAF released the following statement on Wednesday:

The CAF Organising Committee for the Africa Cup of Nations has decided to postpone the AFCON 2021 qualification match between Sierra Leone and Benin to the next FIFA international window in June 2021.

The match was scheduled to be played yesterday, 30 March 2021 in Freetown.

The committee made this decision after reviewing official accounts of the incidents that stopped the match from taking place at the scheduled time.

The Committee’s rationale to move the dates was based on the fact that the match was to take place on the last day of the international window and, scheduling it for the following day (today, Wednesday) would have affected the players’ scheduled return to their respective clubs.

The committee, therefore, felt that moving the match to the next international window was the better course of action.

CAF has informed the football federations of Sierra Leone and Benin about its decision and will provide further information on the rearranged fixture in due course.