Sierra Leone have been disqualified from the preliminaries for the 2019 African Nations Cup finals, confirming places for Kenya and Ghana at the continental championship next June-July.
Sierra Leone’s fate was decided by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Monday after the nation was suspended by FIFA over government interference in football in October.
That meant that the Leone Stars were unable to fulfil their last three qualification matches, and have now officially been withdrawn from the preliminaries by CAF and their previous two results annulled.
Kenya, who will make a first Nations Cup finals appearance since 2004, head the revised three-team qualification pool with seven points, followed by Ghana who are a single point behind.
With the top two sides advancing to the expanded 24-team finals, Ethiopia are a distant third with a one point from four games and no more fixtures to play. Read more