Ten years of civil war shattered the country
Before the tournament, no one had any idea that Sierra Leone could be one of these teams. After more than ten years of cruel civil war between 1991 and 2002 with child soldiers and tens of thousands of dead, the country is still more or less desperately busy with reconstruction. The population of the seven-million-inhabitant state is one of the poorest in the world.
In order to offer children and young people in the capital Freetown meaningful employment, a woman came up in 2003: Isha Johansen founded FC Johansen, an association that was supposed to get the kids off the streets. Greater things developed from the social project: FC Johansen and its senior team rose to the 1st division in 2011, and in 2013 they won the cup. And the club chairman also made a career.
2013 – Isha Johansen becomes President of Football
Isha Johansen, married to Norwegian Consul Arne Birger Johansen, was elected SLFA President in 2013. For eight years she vehemently helped to rebuild the football structures in the country. She professionalized youth development and stabilized professional football in the country. Which caused a lot of attention worldwide. A woman at the head of an African football association was not something to be taken for granted.
The world football association FIFA also saw the energy of the now 56-year-old – in 2016 she was even traded as the successor to the outgoing President Sepp Blatter. Nothing came of the presidency, but Johansen entered the FIFA Council. A connection that also helped her when allegations of corruption against her and her people in the SLFA were made for the first time in 2017. Johansen and co were later acquitted, but Johansen did not run for president again in 2021. The businesswoman, who commutes between England and Sierra Leone, now wants to concentrate fully on her FIFA work, it was said.
Team of the “nameless” trumps
However, the footballing legacy that Johansen left behind is significant. You can see that in the national team. The team, coached by Manchester-born John Keister, is a side of the “nameless” but they are now showing their best at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Goalkeeper Mohamed Kamara, who started his career at FC Johansen in 2017, is just 1.72 meters tall but drove the Ivory Coast strikers and especially the Algerians almost to despair. With his unconventional excursions into the field and his feline movements, he got on their last nerve – after seven top-class saves, the 22-year-old was finally named “Man of the Match”.
“Too cold” – Musa Kamara only one week in Sweden
An award that Musa Kamara would have deserved in the group game that followed. The only 21-year-old striker scored a world-class goal when he turned the ball past two opponents with a perfect turn and then threw the ball into the left corner of the cross from 16 meters.
Kamara is currently playing club football in his home country after a previous trip to Europe failed miserably. In 2019 he signed a contract with Swedish club Trelleborgs FF, but canceled it after just a week. It was too cold for him in Sweden. The international scouts will take a close look at Kamara and Co.’s upcoming third group game. If they go back to running a show like they have up until now, there will definitely be some new contract offers fluttering in.