By Ibrahim Karim Bangura (Tanko)

After Leone Stars’ woeful show in the AFCON 2025 campaign, the Sports Minister, Augusta James-Teima, has expressed her disappointment over Leone Stars’ failure to qualify for the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament which will be hosted in Morocco.

“I am highly disappointed, the government is dissatisfied and the people of Sierra Leone are also unhappy,” Minister James-Teima said.

The Sierra Leone male national team was only able to rake up five points from playing six games in this year’s qualifiers as they were unable to defeat the group under dogs, Chad. Thus this was seen Leone Stars’ major failure not to defeat Chad. The minister said the support the government has been providing for the team over the past years have fallen short of expectations.

“I was expecting the team to have qualified for AFCON 2025, considering all the support the government has been giving to Leone Stars,” she said.

While commending the scouting department of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), the minister also asked them to get a good technical team that will manage the players. “We need to see a growth in the technical area,” she said.

“Please try to uplift your game, and give us a backroom staff that will live up to expectations.”