Cairo – The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Monday in Cairo, announced that Sierra Leone has been cleared to host international soccer matches again after being declared free of the Ebola virus.
A statement from African football’s governing body said the International football matches and CAF competitions can again be organised in Sierra Leone.
It has not been possible since August 2014 when CAF upon the recommendations of the World Health Organization (WHO) suspended football matches in countries affected by the epidemic Ebola virus.
CAF said a ban stretching back some 18 months was now lifted.
It noted that it was rather too late for Sierra Leone’s World Cup hopes, after they were eliminated from the 2018 qualifiers in October.
CAF, however, said Sierra Leone would be able to resume their bid to qualify for the 2017 African Nations Cup finals in Freetown with a Group I qualifier against Gabon in March.
It said Sierra Leone was declared Ebola-free last month.
CAF said available data indicated that the outbreak has killed 11,300 people mainly in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone since it began two years ago.
“Liberia had its football ban lifted in September.
CAF said Guinea was now the last country still banned from hosting international football matches, because of the virus but that could soon change.
It said this was because Guinea’s last known patient recovered two weeks ago. (Reuters/NAN)
